The Rollblast Collection
by Chloe River
Summary: MegaMan NT Warrior and MegaMan Battle Network: A series of the adventures of Roll and her Net Saver friends. Newly updated and better than ever!
1. A Hot Day at the Fair

_PLEASE READ:_

If you don't already (and I'm assuming you don't), **occasionally check into my profile page.** I'll update it when anything comes up. For now, enjoy _A Hot Day at the Fair. _And when you're done, send me a review! Thanks!

Rollblast

A Hot Day at the Fair

"Roll, the fair is tomorrow!"

Maylu ran to her PET and picked it up. "That's right. I almost forgot! Should we invite Lan and Mega Man?"

"Why not?" Roll replied. "I haven't seen Mega Man in a while. He's always gone on his fancy Net Saver missions."

"Yeah." Maylu sighed, recalling the last time they had tried to get together. All the plans had been made, and everything was going well until Lan was ready to leave his house. Then he'd gotten a Net Saver call and had to leave. "I only get to see him at school. It's about time we hung out."

Just then the PET began to beep.

"Mail!" Roll said. "I'll read it. It says, 'Hi, Maylu! It's Lan. We haven't been able to do much lately, so I wanted to know if you'd want to go to the fair tomorrow. Mega Man misses Roll. Tell me as soon as you get my message.'" She smiled. "Neat! It looks like he already invited you. Do you want me to tell him you'll meet him there?"

"All right!" Maylu said. "I need to get my pajamas on. If we're going to the fair, I need to have lots of energy for all the rides. See you in the morning!"

Roll paused from her typing and said without thinking, "Do you think maybe it'll turn into a date?"

Maylu climbed into her bed and said, not seemingly in surprise, "I don't know. Maybe. If you want it to."

Roll released her breath. "Then maybe it will."

--

Meanwhile, Lan and Mega Man were in their room, with Lan getting into his night clothes and Mega Man reading Roll's reply.

"They're going to the fair, Lan," Mega Man said. "They said they'll meet you at the hot dog stand at the gate. You'd better not eat too many hot dogs, or you'll get sick on the rides!"

"Yeah, whatever." Lan frowned at his Navi. "We probably won't go on many rides. There are a lot of shows, and Maylu's going to want to go to every one of them. It'll be hard to fit a roller coaster into our schedule."

"Oh, you'll manage," Mega Man said. "I hope Roll is okay with me sticking in a few Net Battles here and there. They have special tournaments during the fair."

"Are you going to need me?" Lan asked. "I could stick a few Battle Chips in the PET for you to use, and maybe I'll operate you on a few, but I don't want to ignore Maylu."

"That's fine," Mega Man replied.

Lan picked up his Battle Chip collection and said, "Which ones? How about AreaSteal, Electrosword, Yo-Yo, Heat Shot, and Bubbler?"

"Those are good," Mega Man said. "Thanks. Now, go to bed. You and I have got a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah, in a minute." Lan pulled out a comic book that had slid under his bed. "Let me finish this. It's good."

"Whatever."

--

Maylu and Roll waited at the hot dog stand, occasionally checking the time.

"Shouldn't they be here by now?" Maylu said to Roll. "They're late. Again."

"Yeah, by ten minutes," Roll said. "Lan probably just got up. They'll be here soon."

"I sure hope so."

Lan arrived a minute later, looking tired as ever. "I stayed up 'til nearly midnight!" he panted. "Man, am I tired."

"Told ya so," said the voice from Lan's pocket.

"Oh, be quiet!" Lan said, pulling out his PET. "You said to go to bed whenever."

"I did not," his Navi argued. "I told you to get some sleep. And you said, 'Oh, I'm almost done,' and then it was eleven 'o clock and you were still reading."

Lan frowned and turned to Maylu. "So, where do you want to go first?"

"Wherever's fine," Maylu said. "Let's jack Roll and Mega Man onto the Net, and then we can go have fun."

"Okay."

Together the friends jacked their Navis into the hot dog stand. Roll and Mega Man appeared in the Net, and Roll immediately ran to Mega Man.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" Roll cried, happy to finally throw her arms around him. "How are your missions? Are they fun?"

"Well, they're okay. I'd much rather hang out with you, of course." Mega Man smiled.

"Oh, you're so sweet." She stopped hugging him and stepped back. "What do you want to do?"

Mega Man shrugged and said, "We can find some shows to watch."

"I love shows!" Roll smiled. "Do you know when any of them are?"

"No," Mega Man replied, "but I'll bet we can find out over there." He pointed to a booth that said _Cyber Fair_.

"I'll get one!" Roll ran and asked for a map. The Navi behind the counter gave her a piece of paper. She thanked him, and came back to Mega Man. "There's a gymnastics show getting ready to start. Do you want to go to that?"

"Sure," Mega Man said. "It looks like we need to go here." He pointed to a picture of a stage on the map.

"Let's get going, then!"

--

"I don't know what I want to do!" Lan cried.

"You have to want to do _something_," Maylu said. "You invited me."

"I thought you would have the whole day planned out!" Lan dropped onto a nearby bench. "I guess we can find a roller coaster or a Ferris wheel to ride or something."

"I like the Ferris wheel," Maylu said. "Let's find one." Without waiting for Lan to get up, she started in the opposite direction.

Lan jumped up to follow her. "Do you know where you're going?" he asked.

"Nope. I'm just looking for a big, tall, circle thing."

Lan sighed. He turned his head and saw someone he didn't expect to see at a fair.

"Wait, Maylu!" he said. "I see Chaud!"

"Chaud?" Maylu turned around. "Why would he be here?"

"I don't know."

Lan and Maylu walked over to the boy sitting on the bench, eyeing people as they passed by.

"Hey, Chaud!" Lan called. Chaud looked up. "What are you doing here?"

"Net Saver mission," Chaud answered. "There's a Darkloid somewhere on the Net."

"A Darkloid?" Maylu said. "Those guys are irritating. Who is it?"

"We don't know," Chaud said. "But he's disabled the communication between Net Ops and Netnavis."

"I can talk to Mega Man just fine," Lan said. "Watch." He pulled out his PET and said, "Mega Man, are you there?"

There came no response. Then Lan started yelling, "Mega Man! Answer me!"

"Lan he can't hear you," Chaud said. "I don't even know how to get at the Darkloid. I'm just waiting for a Dimensional Area to appear. Then I'll go after it."

"I can't even Crossfuse!" Lan complained. "How are we supposed to defeat the Darkloid without Crossfusion?"

"I've helped stall Nebula without a Navi," Chaud said. He had lost his Navi, Protoman, to the Nebula Syndicate, so many years ago. Now that he was in high school, he had finally gotten used to his empty PET.

"We haven't had a problem with Nebula in a while," Lan pointed out. "This is unusual. I wonder what they're up to now."

"Probably the same thing," Chaud muttered. "Taking over the Net."

"There's got to be some way to get to our Navis!" Maylu said. "What can we do?"

"Nothing yet," Chaud said, "except help me look for Ms. Yuri."

Maylu looked at him. "She's back?"

Chaud nodded.

Lan frowned. "Man. I wish that lady would just fall off a cliff."

--

Roll and Mega Man had just finished watching the show. Seven Navis had danced around the stage doing back flips and forward flips almost too quickly to be seen. Roll and Mega Man clapped through the whole performance.

"That was pretty neat," said Roll.

"Yeah, it was." Mega Man said.

Then Roll turned her head. "Souvenir Shop!" she cried, and took off towards the doors, shouting, "Come on!"

"Huh?" Mega Man looked over to see Roll vanish into the store.

Roll and Mega Man strolled around for fifteen minutes before they came back out. Roll was dressed in a country western outfit. She had on a country style hat, and her pink boots had been decorated to look like that of a cowgirl's.

"The country music concert is next," she said, admiring her outfit. "Wanna go?"

"Okay." Mega Man allowed himself to be pulled into the seat next to Roll's, and they waited for the music to start playing.

They sat for twenty minutes before Roll said, "Maybe the map said the wrong stage?"

"I don't know," Mega Man replied, glancing around at the other Navis in the audience. "I have a feeling something's not right."

"What could be wrong?" Roll asked.

"I don't know. Do you want to try a different stage?"

"I guess so. We can go to something different if you want to."

"No, this is fine. Besides, it's what you want to do." He smiled, and Roll almost melted. Perhaps it could turn into a date.

As they exited the gate to the stage, Mega Man was hit with a blast and thrown against the gates.

"Mega Man!" Roll cried, running over to him. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh," he said. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You won't be for long!"

Roll and Mega Man looked up to see a red Navi standing over them. He had a blaster aimed at them. "So, you're on a date with your girlfriend, huh? I guess I'll just have to delete both of you!"

"Burnerman!" Mega Man said. Then he quickly added, "And she's not my girlfriend."

Roll grimaced, then got angry. This fire freak was ruining her date.

Mega Man stood up and aimed his Megabuster at Burnerman. "Don't hurt her or I'll hurt you."

"Oh, you'll try to hurt me anyway," Burnerman said. He looked at Roll and said, "So, you picked her?" He laughed. "Too bad she can't help you. She forgot her lasso!"

Roll become self-conscious of her outfit. "I don't need a lasso. I could beat you by myself!"

Burnerman laughed. "That's funny." He ignored Roll's frown and turned back to Mega Man. "So, now that you can't talk to your stupid Net Op, you're all mine."

"What?" Mega Man said. "I can't talk to Lan?"

"Nope!" Burnerman laughed. "You'll be a pile of ashes when I'm through with you!"

"What about Maylu?" Roll said, suddenly worried. "I can't talk to her?"

Burnerman ignored her again. "Fire Sword!" he said, and a sword appeared where his blaster was a minute before.

"Electrosword!" Mega Man said. "Look out, Roll!"

Roll backed away as the two Navis lunged at each other. Their swords collided, and Mega Man's sword snapped in half. He fell forward, and Burnerman chuckled.

"You can't fight, either!" he said.

"Mega Man!" Roll cried. "Look out!"

Mega Man jumped up and out of the way as Burnerman's sword struck down. Then his broken sword converted to a Bubbler, which fired at the Darkloid.

"You little—" Burnerman started. Then Roll kicked him from behind. He fell forward in front of the two Navis.

"I can't fight, huh?" she asked angrily.

Burnerman turned onto his back and shot flames at Roll. She jumped out of the way and landed next to Mega Man. Her hat flew off as she landed next to him, and he bent to pick it up for her.

"Nice going!" Mega Man said, handing it to her.

"Just helping." Roll turned to put the hat on, hoping he hadn't seen her blush. "Thanks."

"I'll deal with you later," Burnerman growled, "but for now, I'll just have to settle with getting rid of your stupid Net Ops!"

Before either could respond, Burnerman logged out.

"Oh, no!" Roll said. "What about Lan and Maylu?"

"I don't know," Mega Man said. "Let's get back to our PETs."

--

"I don't see her anywhere!" Lan grumbled. "How are we supposed to find one person in this crowd?"

"Stop complaining," Chaud said. "You're getting annoying."

"He's always like that." Maylu smiled. Then she pointed at a woman in a dark outfit. "Who's that?"

"That's her," Chaud said.

Lan, Chaud, and Maylu surrounded Ms. Yuri, and each one sprang forward and caught her by the arms.

"Hey!" Ms. Yuri let out a startled yell. "Oh, it's you. Chaud and Lan. I guessed you would be here. So I came prepared."

She jerked her left arm from Maylu and Lan, but Chaud still held fast to her right. She grinned. "You don't give up easily, do you?"

"You already knew that," Chaud commented. "I've had enough of you. The Net Savers are waiting for you at the entrance."

Ms. Yuri kicked out at Lan and Maylu as they tried to get a second grip. They backed away, not knowing how to help. Lan shouted, "Why can't I talk to my Navi? What'd you do this time?"

"It's for me to know and you to wonder," Ms. Yuri said, still trying to pry Chaud off her arm. "That way, you can't Crossfuse, and I can get rid of you filthy little—" With a final lash at his stomach, Chaud let go of her arm. She started to run.

"After her!" Chaud ordered, recovering quickly.

Lan, Maylu, and Chaud took off after Ms. Yuri, dodging people in the crowds. Lan pulled out his PET and saw that Mega Man was back. "I can still talk to you in my PET, right, Mega Man?" he panted.

"Of course. I hear you loud and clear," Mega Man said. "Why are you running?"

"We're chasing after Ms. Yuri," he replied. "Again."

"Roll and I just chased off Burnerman," Mega Man said. "He's on your way. Try Crossfusion!"

"I don't think it'll work!" Lan said. "If they broke the communication, it was probably to stop Crossfusion. But I can try, I guess, when the Dimensional Area appears."

"Okay."

Finally, Ms. Yuri came to a dead end in a corner of the fairgrounds, where there were no people around.

"Leave her to me," Chaud said, as the Dimensional Area appeared overhead. "You try Crossfusion."

"Good luck," Ms. Yuri said, giving Lan a sinister grin.

Burnerman appeared behind Lan and Maylu. Maylu turned and shrieked, and Lan said, "Get out of the way, Maylu!"

Maylu didn't argue. She pressed herself against the brick wall, heart beating rapidly.

"You can't use Crossfusion!" Burnerman taunted. "Let's see how you survive this! Burning Jet!"

Burnerman lit himself up and flew at Lan.

Lan dove to the right and said, "All right, Mega Man! Here we go! Syncrochip in! Download now!"

Lan waited, and for a moment, and nothing happened.

"Dang it!" he shouted, looking up at Chaud, who was still trying to get at Ms. Yuri. "Now what?"

Chaud opened his mouth to answer, but then the PET started to glow, and Mega Man said, "It's working!"

As Mega Man's suit materialized onto Lan, Chaud yelled, "Maylu! Use mine!" He threw his Syncrochip at her.

Maylu caught the Syncrochip and stared at it. Chaud was offering his Syncrochip to someone else to use. As far as she knew, he didn't loan it to many others.

"Just put it in the PET, quick!" Roll shouted.

"Uh, okay." Maylu pulled her PET out of her pocket and said shakily, "Syncrochip in. Download."

Just like Lan, she waited a moment before the Crossfusion began. Her pink PET began to glow a bright white, and she looked down as she Crossfused.

She watched as her entire outfit transformed before her eyes. Then her Net Navi's symbol appeared on her chest, and the Crossfusion was complete.

"Yeah!" she heard Roll say in her ear. "We got it!"

Lan had just finished dodging a blast of fire sent by Burnerman. "Ha! You call that aim?" Lan was saying. Then he turned around and stared at Maylu. "How'd you get hold of a Syncrochip?" he asked.

"It's Chaud's," Maylu replied. "Anyway, this is really cool!"

"Yeah, I know! That's one reason I like Net Saver missions! I get to Crossfuse!"

"Oh, stop bragging!" Burnerman was scowling at them. "How did you Crossfuse anyway? I thought we'd disabled the communication!"

"Looks like he only delayed it," Maylu said, feeling a bit more confident. "Now, let's see if you can win when we work together! Rollblast!"

She threw a blast of hearts at Burnerman, and he crossed his arms over his face to shield himself. Then he dropped his arms, unharmed.

"Well, that was effective," he said mockingly. He exploded into a mass of fire and yelled, "Burning Jet!"

Maylu and Lan jumped out of the way and landed next to each other. Then Lan shouted, "Megabuster!" and Maylu shouted, "Rollblast!"

When Burnerman turned around, he was hit with two attacks at once. The defeated Burnerman let out a cry and quickly logged out.

"Nice aim," Lan said. "Right at his chest. That's the way to do it."

"I know," Maylu said simply, smiling.

The Dimensional Area disappeared from around the fairground, and Lan and Maylu's Crossfusion came undone. They caught their PETs in mid-air.

"Great job!" Lan said. "You're so good!"

"It was nothing," Maylu replied.

While Lan chatted with Maylu, Mega Man talked to Roll. "Awesome!" he said. "Do you think you'll be a Net Saver?"

"I sure hope so!" Roll said, thoughts running through her head. "It would be so much fun!"

"Yeah," Mega Man said. "We could go on missions together!"

"Lan! Maylu!"

The two Navis stopped talking to hear what Chaud had to say.

"Ms. Yuri got away," he told Lan and Maylu. "I turned my head for one second, and she was gone. I couldn't catch her."

"That's okay," Lan said. "We'll get her next time."

"Thanks for the Syncrochip," Maylu said, and handed it back to Chaud. He put it back in his pocket.

Lan's PET began to beep. "E-mail!" Mega Man said. "Um, Lan, maybe you should let Chaud read it."

"Uh, okay." Lan handed his PET to Chaud.

"Why'd he send it to our e-mail?" Mega Man asked Chaud, but he didn't expect an answer. And he didn't get one.

Chaud read it aloud. "'You think that you've spoiled our plans, but you've only helped us to get further. Soon, all you Net Savers will be cowering helpless in fear while we Darkloids rule the earth.'" Chaud grimaced. "It's from Protoman."

Maylu and Lan were silent in sympathy for Chaud. Then Maylu said, "We'll get him back, Chaud. There has to be a way."

"There is no way," Chaud replied. "The Darkchip has completely ruined his Soul Data. There's no getting him back. If there was a way, we'd have done it by now."

With that, Chaud stuck his hands into his pockets and walked away.

"It's so sad," Roll said. "He lost a close friend."

"He lost his _best_ friend," Mega Man corrected.

"Either way, it's horrible," Lan said. "I'm going to stop Nebula, no matter what it takes!"

--

Later, Lan and Maylu met Dr. Hikari in his office. Police Chief Keiffer and Mr. Famous were there, too.

"Maylu," said Mr. Famous, "I would like to have the honor in making you the newest Net Saver. You seem to be up to date in everything, and you helped to defeat Burnerman. Do you accept?"

Maylu smiled from ear to ear and said, "Yes, sir!"

"Then it's settled," Keiffer said. "You are now an official Net Saver!" He paused, then pulled a stack of papers from a drawer. "That is, after you sign these." Everyone laughed.

Dr. Hikari reached into another desk drawer and pulled out a shining Syncrochip.

"Whoa!" Lan shouted. "I didn't think you had anymore!"

"Well, the truth is," Mr. Famous said, "we lied. We had stashed away just enough of the ingredients to make extra Syncrochips for emergencies. The process is longer and more expensive to make them, though. We felt like you were deserving of one."

"Wow," Maylu said, breathless. She took the Syncrochip from Dr. Hikari. "Thank you."

"Now we can go on missions together!" Lan said. "I can't wait!"

Dr. Hikari grinned. "Good luck, you two! I'll be here to help whenever you need me."

"Thanks, dad!" Lan said. "Maylu, let's go to my house. Mega Man and Roll can hang out on the Net."

"Okay." Maylu and Lan waved goodbye to Dr. Hikari and Police Chief Keiffer and headed back home. "Thank you so much!"

The End

Well, what did you think? Tell me in the form of a review!


	2. Best Cold Hearted Friend

_PLEASE READ:_

This is where the series gets more complicated. I'll admit that I don't have access to a lot of the information needed to write a completely accurate story, so if any part of the storyline is incorrect, please let me know. I'm trying my best. Enjoy!

Rollblast 2

Best Cold-Hearted Friend

"I don't know which one to get!"

Maylu and Lan were at the mall. Maylu was trying on clothes, and Lan was standing impatiently outside the girls' dressing room.

"I don't care!" Lan grumbled. "I just want to get out of the girl's section! Can't we get some new Battle Chips or something?"

"You just got some yesterday," Maylu replied, stepping outside the dressing room. "I decided to get the red skirt. Is that okay?"

"That's fine." Lan turned and walked briskly away from the dressing room.

"Why are you always such a party pooper?" Maylu asked. "Seriously, all you ever want to look at are Battle Chips! And food."

"Well, I'm not a girl," he replied. "I'm not that into shopping."

"Whatever." Maylu followed him out of the girl's section.

"Look!" Lan said, pointing ahead of them. "Is that who I think it is? Why is he at the mall?"

"Who is it?" Maylu asked.

"Raika!" Lan said, running ahead.

Maylu ran after him. "I wonder why he's here," she asked.

Raika turned around at the sound of the approaching teenagers. "Oh, it's you."

"Hi!" Lan said. "I was just wondering why you were, uh, at the mall."

"I'm on a mission," he said quietly. "Someone keeps sending viruses into the mall's main computer."

"I wonder why I wasn't asked to investigate," Lan said. "After all, I'm the best—"

"Lan, be quiet!" Maylu interrupted. "You're always bragging."

"No, I'm not!" Lan said. He turned back to Raika. "Raika, meet the newest Net Saver! Maylu! She's even got her own Syncrochip!"

"That's pretty neat," Raika commented. "I thought there were only two available."

"Apparently there's another side to the story," Maylu muttered.

"I guess so. Well, I can't stay distracted for too long. Nice to see you two again."

Lan waved as Raika walked away.

"I haven't seen him for a while," Lan said. "Searchman either. Have you seen him around?" This last part he asked Mega Man, and then took out his PET. His eyes widened. "Mega Man? Where are you?"

"What's wrong?" Maylu asked.

"Mega Man's not in his PET!" Lan said. "Where is he?"

Maylu checked her PET. "Roll, do you know where he is?"

"No," replied Maylu's Netnavi. "The last time I saw him was in Net City. We were at the Cyber Fair. But that was a while ago. After that, I don't know."

"Oh, no!" Lan sank into a nearby bench. "Mega Man's gone! We've gotta find him!"

"We'll help," Maylu said. "Right, Roll?"

"Yup!" Roll replied. "Now, where do you think he'd be? Lan, you know him best."

"I don't know!" Lan sighed. "I thought he'd be in your PET, Maylu, but he's not!"

Suddenly, Lan's PET began to beep. He picked it back up and said, "I've got e-mail." He opened it up and read it aloud. "It says, 'Lan, get your Netnavi out of my PET! I need to get back to work!'" Lan laughed, relieved. "It's from Raika. Mega Man was visiting Searchman."

Mega Man appeared back in Lan's PET. "Heh, sorry," he said. "I tried to tell you I was leaving, but you couldn't hear me."

"Oh," Lan said. "I guess I should pay better attention."

"Yeah…" Mega Man smiled.

Lan frowned.

"Oh, good!" Roll said. "You're okay!"

"So, where do you want to go now, Lan?" Maylu asked.

"Battle Chips!" said Lan and Mega Man in unison.

"I should have guessed," Roll laughed.

-- 

That night, Maylu sat on her bed and talked to Roll.

"Do you think we'll get called on a mission soon?" Maylu asked.

"I don't know," Roll said. "I hope so. I can't wait to do Crossfusion again!"

"Yeah, that was cool," Maylu replied. "Maybe we could be partners to Lan and Mega Man!"

"That would be awesome!" Roll said. "Do you want to call him? Maybe you two could go somewhere tomorrow."

"But we were just at the mall!"

"He didn't seem to enjoy that too much," Roll said. "That is, until you agreed to get some more Battle Chips."

"Okay," Maylu said. "Where should we go?"

Roll thought a moment, then said, "How about the skating rink?"

"Okay!" Maylu said. "I'll call him right now." She went to the phone in the kitchen and dialed his number.

"Hello?" Lan said, answering the phone.

"Hi!" Maylu said. "How are you?" She added jokingly, "I haven't seen you for a while."

"Yeah, it's been a few years," Lan replied, laughing. "What's up?"

"I just called to see if you wanted to go to the skating rink tomorrow. Interested?"

"Sure!" he answered. "Mega Man, maybe you could take Roll out tomorrow."

Inside the PET, Roll's heart lept. _That was a really good choice of words,_ she thought, smiling to herself.

"Okay," Mega Man said, "but that was a really bad choice of words. I'll go hang out with her. I'm not taking her 'out'."

Roll grimaced, all hope dashed. Twice so far he'd denied having the same feelings for her.

Maylu laughed. "Okay. We'll meet at my house tomorrow morning at ten. How's that?"

"Good," Lan said. "See you then!"

"Bye!" Maylu hung up the phone.

"Cool!" Roll said, covering her emotions. "Now we've got even more time together before either of us gets called on a mission. And then we'll be busy for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah. It'll be fun." Maylu headed back into her room.

"You should probably get to bed. It's getting late."

"Yeah, you're right. Goodnight!"

--

Maylu sat on a bench outside the skating rink and waited for Lan. "I hope he shows up," she said to Roll.

"Why wouldn't he?" Roll asked.

"Oh, maybe he forgot or something." Maylu sighed.

"He won't forget," Roll said. "He likes skating. And he's your best friend."

"After you," Maylu reminded her. She looked up as a shadow fell over her. "Oh, hi Lan!"

"Hi, Maylu," Lan said. "Sorry I'm so late. Mega Man didn't wake me up."

Maylu heard a sigh from Lan's pocket. "I tried to wake you up," Mega Man said. "It was you who told me to be quiet."

"I do that every morning," Lan replied. "Anyway, are you ready to skate, Maylu?"

"Sure am!" Maylu smiled. "Let's go!"

Lan led the way as they headed into the skating rink. They each sat at a table and put on their skates.

"Hey, Roll!" Mega Man called from his PET. "Do you want to get on the Net?"

"Sure!" Roll said. "Maylu, jack me in!"

Roll met Mega Man in Net City. "Hi!" she said. "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good," Mega Man replied. "And you?"

"Awesome!" Roll said. "So, where do you want to go?"

"I guess we can go to the Net City Arena," Mega Man said.

"Okay," Roll said. "Let's go, then."

--

Lan and Maylu skated in circles around the rink and chatted.

"I wish you were in my math class so you could explain the homework to me," Lan said. "But no, you have to be a year ahead of me in math! I'm just not any good at algebra! And why would a teacher give such a hard assignment on the weekend?"

"I could still help," Maylu said.

A voice behind them yelled, "It's not hard, you're just dumb!"

Lan turned. Dex was skating toward him and Maylu.

"Dex!" Maylu said. "And since when were you smarter than Lan?"

"Who's not smarter than Lan?" Dex asked.

Lan frowned. "I'll bet you wouldn't be able to solve trigonomic equations!"

Dex gave him a confused look. "What are those?"

Maylu sighed. "Lan, you don't even know what those are. That's _my_ homework."

"Anyway, why are you here?" Lan asked, changing the subject. "Aren't you still a member of, you know…"

"Yep," Dex said. "In fact, I'm here to challenge you again."

"Oh, great," Maylu said. "Why do you have to beat him? I haven't beaten him, and it's not like it matters that much."

"Well, you're a girl," Dex answered. He ignored her angry look. "Sorry for the interruption, but _I_ still need to beat you, Lan!"

"Okay," Lan said. "I've got time. Is that okay, Maylu?"

Maylu sighed. "Whatever."

-- 

In the arena, Numberman was facing a Navi called Shockman. Numberman was badly losing.

"I wonder who Shockman belongs to," Roll said.

"Yeah, me too," Mega Man said. "He's pretty strong."

Roll squeezed her eyes shut as Shockman lit up the arena with a blaze of electricity. When she opened them again, she realized that Numberman had logged out.

"Winner: Shockman," announced the computer.

"Wow," Roll said. "That was cool."

Mega Man nodded. Then he heard Lan's voice.

"Mega Man, we've got a mission!"

Roll and Mega Man both sighed, assuming it was a Net Saver mission. So much for their time together.

"All right, Lan," he said. "I'm coming back." Then he turned to Roll. "I'm really sorry."

"No problem. It's not like you could help it." With that, the two Navis jacked out.

-- 

"Alright, Dex, let's get started!"

Lan and Dex faced each other in front of the Net battle machine.

"I'm gonna win this time!" Dex cried. "Jack in! Gutsman, power up!"

"We'll see about that!" Lan smiled. "Jack in, Mega Man, power up!"

Mega Man and Gutsman appeared in front of each other. Gutsman took no time to greet Mega Man before he ran forward and threw him a punch.

"Yow!" Lan cried. "Are you okay, Mega Man?"

Mega Man landed with a thud a few meters away. He sat up, shook his head, and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. But that'll leave a mark."

Lan smiled. "Cyber Sword, Battle Chip in! Download!"

Mega Man allowed the sword to materialize in place of his hand before he ran at Gutsman.

"Gutsman not lose again!" Gutsman cried. "Gutshammer!"

As Mega Man lunged for the attack, Gutsman hit him again. Mega Man once again fell to the ground.

"He's tougher than normal," Mega Man commented to Lan. "He seems…different."

"Different, shmifferent!" came Lan's reply. "High-Cannon, Battle Chips in! Triple-download!"

Mega Man jumped up and aimed his new cannon at Gutsman. "Zeta-Cannon, go!" he yelled, and fired.

When the smoke cleared, Mega Man checked to see if his opponent was down yet. But instead, he was hit hard from behind.

"Uh!" Mega Man fell forward. He rolled onto his back and looked up at Gutsman. Gutsman moved his huge feet close together so that Mega Man didn't have any room at all to move. Or to escape.

"Whoa!" Lan yelled. "How'd he do that?"

"My secret," Gutsman replied. "Gutsthump!"

Mega Man squeezed his eyes shut as the giant fist came down.

"Stop!"

Gutsman's fist ceased just inches from Mega Man's head. He looked up to see Roll, of course, running as if a Darkloid were chasing her.

"Please don't fight anymore!" she pleaded. "Why can't we just be friends again? Winning isn't that big of a deal!"

"Being friend is not my job," Gutsman said, sadness showing in his eyes.

"Then quit your job!" Mega Man shouted. He shot his Megabuster at Gutsman, who fell backwards with a thud and released Mega Man.

"That wasn't nice," Roll commented.

"Yeah, well, he hit me three times," Mega Man argued.

Gutsman sat back up and frowned. "Gutsman no quitter!" he yelled. "I need a Battle Chip!"

"Aye, aye!" Dex said. "Mega-Cannon, Battle Chip in! Download!"

As the Spreader appeared on Gutsman's fist, Roll cried, "Please, don't!"

Gutsman hesitated, and Dex glanced at Maylu. Maylu was digging for a good Battle Chip for Roll's defense.

"If you don't move, then I'll just have to defeat both of you!" Gutsman shouted, though he didn't show any signs of being ready to fire.

"Roll, get out of the way!" Mega Man said. He shoved her away, ready to take the blow full force.

"No!" Roll said stubbornly. She whispered, "With me here, he won't fire."

Mega Man blinked in realization. "Oh."

Dex had other plans. "Just do it," he said, but his tone suggested that he didn't really want his Navi to do as he said.

But still, Gutsman obeyed. "All righty, then," he said. "Mega-Cannon!"

"Now you can go," Mega Man ordered. "_Now_."

"No, Mega, I'm not—"

Mega Man pushed her with all his might and braced himself for the shot. He cried out when it came, and fell backwards onto the ground.

"Yes!" Dex cried. "We did it, Gutsman!"

"Mega Man!" Roll ran to his side.

Mega Man groaned. "Ow…"

Roll turned and glared at Gutsman. "If you're going to be that way, then I'll be _this_ way! Rollblast!"

"Uh, oh," Gutsman said. "Gutsman make Roll angry!"

"Nothin' to worry about!" Dex told him. "We can take on a girl. Barrier, Battle Chip in!"

A shield flew up around Gutsman, just in time for the attack to be harmlessly absorbed.

"Now finish Mega Man!" Dex commanded. "Mega-Gutsthump!"

Gutsman ran at Mega Man, extra-large fist raised. But Roll wasn't going to let them finish the battle. She activated the Water Tower that Maylu had given her, and it sent Gutsman flying to the other end of the arena.

"Roll, log out!" Mega Man shouted, and he vanished at the same time she did.

Dex received a powerful side-kick to his shin. "Ow!" he shouted as he went down, and he saw Maylu standing over him threateningly.

"What's gotten into you?" she demanded. "You're so rude!"

"I'm outta here," Lan said. "Come on, Maylu."

"You cheated!" Dex shouted at him. "You know I would have won! I've been _practicing_!"

"You wish," Lan said over his shoulder as he walked away.

"You know," Maylu said to Lan once they had gone out the doors, "you probably should have just beat him and _showed_ him that you're better."

"Oh, whatever," Lan replied. "Come on, we're supposed to be skating."

-- 

Maylu was sitting on her bed with her PET propped up on the dresser next to it. She was lying down, writing in her journal, and Roll was reading a book that she had downloaded off of the Internet.

"Is that book any good?" Maylu asked.

"Sort of," Roll answered. "It could be better. I don't like the writing style. But it's very creative." Then she put the book down and said, "What are you writing?"

"Just a diary entry about today," Maylu answered. "I don't know, but Lan has something weird about him that makes even life-threatening situations fun."

"It's because he's funny," Roll said. "Mega Man's like that, too. Everything's fun."

Without warning, Maylu's PET began to beep, and Roll squealed with surprise.

"What?" Maylu exclaimed. "It's, like, nine o' clock at night!"

"Net Saver call," Roll said.

Maylu groaned and answered the call. "Yeah?" she said.

Mr. Famous's face popped in the screen behind Roll and he said, "Hello, Maylu. We have a mission for you."

"At this hour?" Maylu asked. "It's almost bedtime."

"Not for Nebula," Mr. Famous said. "We'll explain when you get here."

"Fine." Maylu clicked off and looked at Roll.

Roll sighed. "Well, let's go."

-- 

"Nebula has targeted an area in Sharo," Mr. Famous explained. "They've created a device that is sending temperatures there into the negatives, even during this season. We're sending three Net Savers there to find and destroy this device. Ah, and you'll probably need your Syncrochip. And here are your partners, Maylu."

Maylu expected to turn around and see Lan and Chaud as her partners, but she was surprised that she was only half right. Chaud and Tori were walking into the room.

"Tori!" Maylu cried. "Neat! How long have you been a Net Saver?"

"A whole week!" he replied. "Iceman and I were discovered by Mr. Famous while we were fighting viruses in my dad's water works computer."

"Tori has exceptionally unique battling skills," Mr. Famous commented. "And it's just Famous."

"Well?" Chaud grumbled. "Are we going, or not?"

"Sorry!" Maylu said. "All right, Mr. Fame—I mean, just Famous! We'll be going now."

"Goodbye, and good luck."

-- 

On their way to Sharo, Maylu and Tori filled each other in on the missions they had been on. Maylu told her story with pride. She enjoyed retelling how she had Crossfused and defeated Burnerman.

"Where's Lan?" Tori asked.

Maylu hesitated. "I don't know. I was too excited at seeing you to really think about it."

"It's weird," Tori said. "Isn't he, like, one of the best Net Savers in the world?"

"I guess so. I don't know what Chief Keiffer's up to."

"Wow, it's _freezing_!"

Tori was right. Even with the air conditioning on high in the helicopter, the cold could not be kept out. Chaud, Tori, and Maylu were huddled together, trying to stay warm.

"Even Sharo's Net is cold!" Roll said, shivering.

Roll, Iceman, and one other Navi were standing in Sharo Area, waiting for their Net Ops to land.

The other Navi was an Alpha-IV Navi from a disk that Chaud had booted up. Chaud had gotten tired of watching fights from the sidelines, so he had bought a Navi to use until Protoman was returned to his proper place inside his PET, or until he got a new Navi. The Alpha-IV Navi was a light gray color, and he called himself "Alphaman".

"It's not that cold," Iceman commented. "I think it feels rather good."

"Your name's Iceman," Alphaman said. He spoke with a slight English accent. "You probably like the cold."

"I don't know how long I can handle this," Roll said, who was now huddled next to a fire created by a Burner chip that Maylu had downloaded for her. "It's so cold!"

"We've already established that," Alphaman said.

Roll gave him a funny look.

"We're almost there," Chaud said, looking out the window.

Sharo was covered in a deep blanket of snow. Soon Maylu had spotted a place cleared of snow, and the helicopter landed there.

Maylu, Tori, and Chaud pulled their heavy winter coats even tighter and started on their way to the Net Saver base that every country had.

"We'll have to hurry," Chaud said. "The feeling in our fingers won't last long in weather this cold."

Maylu already couldn't feel hers. "Can we go faster?" she asked.

-- 

"We have no idea where the thing is," said the Sharo representative, once they'd reached Sharo Base.

"Surely you've found it by now?" Tori asked.

"Have you even been looking?" Chaud wondered aloud.

"It must be well hidden," Maylu said. "Now, if I was an evil group looking to freeze a country and all the people in it, where would I put the secret device?"

"Probably in the place where the most people would go!" Roll piped up.

"Precisely!" Alphaman exclaimed. "Now sir, what is the most popular site in your country?"

"Probably the city's Net Museum," he answered. "It's got all kinds of Navis and programs to look at."

"Then come on, guys," Chaud ordered.

-- 

"This place is awesome!"

_This is cool_, Maylu thought. The whole museum was centered on teaching people how Netnavis and PETs were programmed and how they worked. It was closed, so Maylu, Tori, and Chaud were allowed to have a good look around without anyone else bothering them.

"Look! It's _me_!"

Out of Chaud's PET, Alphaman was pointing at an exhibit of an Alpha-IV Navi.

"Yeah, it is," Chaud said in a bored voice. "Shut up."

"This machine probably wouldn't be out on display," Maylu pointed out. "We should check behind some of the 'employees only' doors."

"Good idea," Chaud said. "Okay everyone, split up."

Maylu's first door was simply employees' bathroom. There was nothing out of the ordinary in there, so Maylu moved on.

Her next door was a little more interesting. She pulled open the door and jumped back, screaming, "Protoman! It's Protoman!"

"_What?_" Roll squealed.

Protoman was standing on the other side of the door, holding his sword high, ready to strike. Maylu fell to the ground, shaking both from fear and from the cold air that was coming from the room.

Soon Tori and Chaud had come running. Even in her state of shock, Maylu couldn't miss the eagerness in Chaud's eyes to see his old friend again. But when they saw Protoman, Chaud sighed and Tori dropped his Syncrochip.

"It's a _poster_, Maylu," Chaud said, his voice not masking his disappointment.

Maylu opened her eyes and looked back up at Protoman. Then she laughed, relieved. It was in fact a poster, hanging from the top of the doorframe.

"Wait," Tori said, putting his Syncrochip back into his shirt pocket. "First of all, what's a poster of Protoman doing blocking the way into an employees only room? And second, do you feel that?"

Maylu nodded. The room was becoming even colder now.

"Come on," Chaud said, tearing down the poster, almost angrily. He stepped into the room. "It was probably to scare people off."

The new room was extremely cold. It looked like it was supposed to be the lounge, but the sink was frozen over and the sofas were hard as a rock from the cold.

"Now, where's the thing that's making it this way?" Tori said.

"I don't know. If I did, we wouldn't be looking for it," Chaud said, looking behind a curtain.

Maylu opened a closet door and cried, "Mega Man!" Then she stopped and said, "No, wait, it's a poster, too."

"Why are there posters of Net Saver Navis hanging all over the place?" Chaud asked. "Is it because they can't put the real thing on display?"

"Why would they display them behind closed doors?" Maylu pointed out. "No one's going to see the posters unless they're employees."

"True," Tori agreed.

"Like I said, it's probably to scare people off. But if one poster led us closer, maybe another will, too." Chaud tore down Mega Man and squeezed into the closet. Maylu and Tori waited a moment, and then Chaud said, "Stairway! This closet leads somewhere else."

The deeper the stairs went, the colder it got. Soon Maylu was afraid she would unbalance herself from shaking so much.

"There!" Maylu said, pointing a quivering finger at the center of the back wall.

What looked like a supercomputer was set against the wall. Several buttons were blinking, and directly above it, a fan was shooting cold air into the room.

"This must be the main one," Chaud said. "If we get rid of this one, we'll stop all the other machines that are giving off cold air. Let's jack in."

-- 

Roll, Iceman, and Alphaman appeared in the machine's computer.

"What are we to do now?" Alphaman asked. "There's nothing here."

"What do we do, Tori?" Iceman asked his operator.

"Uh…" Tori turned to Chaud.

"A Darkloid will be there soon," Chaud said. "They always send someone in when they're being messed with."

"Okay. Iceman, just wait. They'll send a Darkloid."

"That's a fun thing to wait for," Roll commented, sitting down. "It's cold in here."

"It's perfect," Iceman said.

"Your name's Iceman," Alphaman said. "You like the cold."

"Whoa, déjà vu," Roll said, laughing. "You said that already."

"Oh."

The three Navis waited for a while, two of them shivering, before finally a new Navi appeared in front of them.

"Who's that?" Alphaman asked.

"Great, it's this loser," Roll muttered.

"I'm Blizzardman!" said the new Navi. "And I've been sent to get rid of you!"

"We could have guessed that last part," Alphaman said.

"Maylu! Trouble!" Roll cried.

Maylu looked down at her PET to see Roll, Iceman, and Alphaman being blasted by giant snowballs. "Chaud! Tori!" she yelled. "He's here! I think it's Blizzardman!"

"Ice Ball, Battle Chip in!" Tori cried immediately.

"Sir!" Alphaman was shouting. "I need Battle Chips! Sir, sir, sir!"

Maylu dug in her pocket with freezing hands before she finally brought out a Burner Battle Chip. "Burner, Battle Chip in! Download!"

Roll blasted Blizzardman with a hot fire before hitting him again with Rollblast.

"Ice Ball!" Iceman yelled, and he threw a ball of frozen water at Blizzardman, who was too preoccupied to block the attack.

"Fire Sword!" Alphaman shouted. "Take this, you frozen fool!"

Alphaman struck and missed.

"Snowball!" Blizzardman sent giant balls of snow straight at Iceman, Alphaman, and Roll, who were then trapped in all the ice.

"Oh, dear!" Alphaman said. "Battle Chips, sir!"

"Don't boss me around!" Chaud yelled before giving Alphaman another Fire Sword. The sword immediately burned through the ice, freeing the three Navis.

"Fire Sword! Eat this, you fat ball of—oops, I missed."

"Come _on_!" Chaud shouted angrily. "You're supposed to be a level _four_ Alpha Navi! How can you be so _bad_?!"

Alphaman didn't answer.

"Don't be so mean, Chaud," Maylu said, downloading another Burner chip for Roll. "He just needs to practice."

"He's level four! He's programmed to be good! He _stinks_!"

"Whatever."

"Thanks, Maylu!" Roll said, melting the snow that was being blasted at her. "Rollblast!"

"Ice Breath!"

Soon Blizzardman was standing frozen and bruised in the middle of the floor. "My time's up!" he said. "I'll be seeing you soon!" and he logged out.

"Crap!" Chaud said aloud.

The reason for Chaud's anger was because a fat Nebula Navi had just materialized in front of him.

"Get your Syncrochips!" Tori ordered. "Blizzardman's here!"

"You have a Syncrochip?" Maylu asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Tori said. "A few days ago. I was pretty confused. But hey, why argue?"

"Where are the Dimensional Area Generators?" Chaud asked.

"Who knows?" Tori replied. "Syncrochip in, download!"

"Syncrochip in! Download!"

"I'm not Crossfusing with that twit!"

"Don't be so mean, Chaud!"

Chaud grumbled at Maylu under his breath, but didn't insert the Syncrochip.

"Ha ha!" Blizzardman laughed. "So here are the Net Ops, along with their fancy Syncrochips, here to destroy the freezer! Snowball!"

Blizzardman aimed a giant ball of snow at Tori, who dodged just in time and countered with an Ice Breath.

"Rollblast!" Maylu yelled. Blizzardman blocked with what seemed to be a large snow fort. Maylu and Tori tried blasting through, but it wasn't ordinary snow.

Meanwhile, Chaud stood to the side and yelled at the Navi inside his PET. "You've gotta aim while your fighting!" he was growling. "You can't just jump and hope to slice down on a Navi!"

"Sorry, sir!" Alphaman yelped.

Soon Maylu managed to blast through the fort with a Heat Shot Battle Chip. Then Tori hid himself and Maylu behind a Guard.

"We've gotta come up with a plan," Maylu told him. "Which Battle Chips do you have?"

"Heat Shot, Flame Line, Guard, Mega Cannon, and Spreader," Tori replied as a snowball banged against the Guard.

"I've got Heat Shot, Fire Sword, Recovery, Burner, and Tornado," Maylu said. "How about this. We'll both hit with a Heat Shot and surprise him. Then you fire with the Flame Line, and if he tries to attack I'll use Tornado."

"Sounds good. One, two, three, go!"

Tori got rid of the Guard, and he and Maylu whipped around and fired with the Heat Shot chips that were already materialized. Blizzardman yelled with surprise, and Tori followed up with a Burner.

"I'm not through!" Blizzardman cried as he logged out.

"Good job!" Maylu said, and she gave Tori a high five.

"Why isn't the Dimensional Area going away?" Chaud asked, looking up from his PET.

"I don't know," Maylu said.

"Look out!" Chaud shouted.

Maylu and Tori turned around. A tall, dark Navi was standing behind them. He raised his sword and struck down in the blink of an eye.

Maylu cried out as the sword whipped across her shoulder and she fell to the ground. She heard a yell of shock and pain from Tori, and then the sound of his Crossfusion coming undone.

"Tori!" Maylu shrieked, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and turning to him.

"You!" Chaud yelled angrily. "Protoman!"

"That's right, Chaud!" said the dark Navi menacingly, walking slowly towards Chaud. "Dark Protoman. I've come to officially get rid of you now. Your friends are helpless. I'd like to see them save you now."

He slashed his sword behind him and grazed Maylu's arm, who had gotten up. She fell back. "Crossfuse, Chaud!" she choked.

"Oh, you have a new partner?" Protoman asked with mock interest, but Maylu's heart gave a leap when she saw a flicker of sadness at being forgotten on his face.

Chaud seemed to have seen it, too. "Yes, in fact I do," he said. "His name's Alphaman, and he could rip you limb from limb if I gave the order."

"Sir, I'd like you to not bring me into this," came a timid voice from Chaud's pocket.

"Ah, there he is!" Protoman said. All at once, he vanished and appeared right next to Chaud. Before Chaud could stop him, Protoman whipped the PET out of his pocket.

Alphaman let out a cry. "He's gonna hurt me!"

"Shut up, Alphaman," Chaud said through clenched teeth. His fists were at his side, and he was glaring at Protoman, waiting for his reaction.

"Let's see the show," Protoman finally said. "Chaud, Crossfuse, and we'll fight fair and square. Now, or I'll do away with your little friends here before I kill you, slowly and painfully." Protoman tossed the PET back to Chaud, who caught it with a look of pure rage in his eyes, but not a trace of hate.

"Chaud!" Maylu cried. "You can't fight him alone! You need us!"

"And what can you do?" Protoman chuckled.

Maylu stepped away from Tori and activated the Recovery chip. Immediately the pain in her shoulder and arm subsided. "Fire Sword, Battle Chip in," she said. "Now, Chaud, I'll fight with you."

"No," Chaud said. "This is my fight. He's my best friend." Slowly and angrily he pulled the Syncrochip out of his pocket.

"No, sir!" Alphaman cried. "I don't want to fight him!"

"Shut up," Chaud hissed. Millimeter by millimeter he brought the Syncrochip closer to the PET.

And then Maylu saw it. Chaud's head was bent at the perfect angle so that Maylu could see his bright blue eyes, but Protoman couldn't. His eyes were flitting from Maylu to Protoman and back again.

"_Now!_" Chaud yelled.

_I can't believe it, _Maylu thought as she lunged at Protoman, flaming sword pointed at his chest. _Chaud is trusting me to fight for him!_

"Sonicboom!" Protoman yelled immediately, and the attack sliced Maylu's sword in half.

"Tornado!" Maylu cried, recovering fast. The cold air swirled all around her, headed straight for Protoman.

Protoman moved to the side and slashed through the center of the twister, slicing Maylu's cheek.

"You're his best friend!" Maylu cried through the sound of the rushing wind. "He still loves you!"

Protoman ignored her.

Maylu managed to hit Protoman with a Rollblast. He roared angrily and sent another Sonicboom her way, but she countered with a Burner that stopped the attack in its tracks.

Protoman growled something rude and disappeared. He appeared next to Maylu just as he had done to Chaud, and grabbed the symbol on her chest.

Maylu screamed as dark energy emitted from Promotion's hands.

"You recognize this, don't you?" Protoman sneered. "I attacked your boyfriend this same way. Let's see now if you survive as he barely did."

"If you're talking about Lan," Maylu choked, "he's not my boyfriend—yet."

Protoman smirked. "You really think you'll get that far don't you?"

Maylu nodded.

"Eat this, you dark dope!"

Protoman was blown to the side by a blast from what Maylu recognized as a High-Cannon. When she re-balanced herself, she looked over and saw Alphaman standing with a smoking cannon in place of his right arm.

"You _Crossfused_?" Maylu asked.

"No," came a voice to her left. Maylu turned and saw Chaud standing holding his PET and three Battle Chips. "I just thought that if the Darkloid could figure out how to get here, why can't the Navis come alone too, without Crossfusing? Like I said, I'm not Crossfusing with that twit!"

"I figured it out all on my own!" chimed Alphaman.

"You…" said Protoman, standing back up and glaring at his former Net Op. He appeared next to Maylu and grabbed her by the neck. "You just can't stay out of the fight, can you, Chaud?"

"No, I can't!" Chaud retorted. "Spreader, Battle Chips in! Triple-download!" and he thrust all three of the Battle Chips into his PET. "H-Burst! Aim, Alphaman!"

"But the lady, sir!" Alphaman argued. "An H-Burst will hit her, too!"

"Do it!" Maylu cried.

Chaud hesitated, but Alphaman was willing to take orders from anyone. "Yes, m'lady!" he said, and prepared to fire.

"Wait!" Chaud said, making up his mind. "No, don't!"

But it was too late. Chaud's order could not be heard over the blast of the H-Burst or Maylu's scream.

Chaud was terrified at what he would see when the smoke cleared, but when he did see, he was infuriated. He turned to Alphaman and started shouting.

"You _missed_!" he yelled. "I gave you an H-Burst so you'd _hit_ him! But you _missed!_ How can you miss with an _H-Burst?_"

"I'm sorry, sir!" Alphaman squeaked.

Protoman threw Maylu to the side and started towards Chaud.

"So this is who will rip me limb from limb, eh?" Protoman mocked. "Go on, Chaud. Give the order."

"Protoman, stop!" Chaud said. "You really are my best friend! My best cold-hearted friend!"

"Cold-hearted I am," Protoman said, "but a friend I'm not."

Maylu rubbed her sore neck and stood up silently.

"Um, sir," Alphaman began quietly. "Permission to leave?"

"Shut up!" Chaud bellowed.

"Yes, sir."

Protoman chuckled.

"Rollblast!"

Protoman fell to his knees as he was hit with a blast from behind. "You!" he growled, and he whipped around to face Maylu.

"Yup, it's me!" Maylu said, smiling.

"Dark Sword!" Promotion's sword turned black, and dark flames erupted from the blade. "You'll pay for your interference, girl!"

"No, you'll pay!" Maylu waited for Protoman to lunge, and then she set a Burner chip in front of her and jumped above him. Protoman jumped right into the flames, and Maylu fell on top of him and shouted, "Fire Sword!"

"Goodbye, Dark Protoman," Chaud said quietly.

Maylu sliced with the sword, right through Protoman's symbol. He let out a choking cry and fell to the ground with a thud. He didn't move.

"Gotcha," Maylu said.

"Maylu, my lady, your side!"

Maylu looked down to see her right side slowly disintegrating. "Ah!" she choked. "Chaud…"

"I'll get Tori, sir," Alphaman offered.

Chaud ran to Maylu. As he reached her, the Crossfusion came undone, and she lost consciousness.

-- 

Maylu woke up in the back of a moving van, and bandages were wrapped around her stomach and across her face. "What's going on?" she demanded.

"We're heading back to Net Saver Headquarters in Dentech City," explained Chaud, who was sitting next to her stretcher. "We're in an ambulance."

"Wow," Maylu said, moving and aching arm up to her head. "I'm sore all over." Then everything flooded back. "Protoman! Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Chaud said. "He, uh, he's confused. He's now got what Mega Man had, a DarkSoul. There's no way to tell when it will appear and when it won't." He chuckled. "I learned my lesson. No more using Darkchips to save Lan's butt."

"And Tori?"

"He's fine. A little beaten and bruised, but nothing a little rest can't handle."

"And Alphaman?"

"I'm fine!"

Maylu hesitated. "And you?"

Chaud sighed. "I'm confused, too. The first thing I expected Protoman to do was get up and"—he sighed—"well, give me a, um, a hug, or something. He didn't. He jumped up and demanded to know who I was."

Maylu was silent. Protoman had lost a great deal of his Soul Data when the Darkchip affected him. That Soul Data would probably take a long time to recover, if it could be recovered at all.

"Everything will be fine," Alphaman said. Maylu nodded, and Chaud sighed again.

"Maylu?"

Maylu reached down and pulled up her PET. "Hey, Roll," she said. "Are you okay?"

"Well, since we were Crossfused, the attack affected me, too," Roll said, "but Chaud put in a Recovery program, so I'm just fine."

"That's good." Maylu laid her head back down. "And Iceman?"

"Same with him."

The three Net Savers all rode back the rest of the way in silence. Maylu dozed off every once in a while, and once she even heard Chaud snore before he snapped awake, red-faced.

-- 

In the hospital wing at headquarters, Maylu sat up in her bed, talking to Roll. Tori was in a bed next to hers, and Chaud sat in a chair inbetween the two.

"How do you think Mega Man will take this story?" Roll wondered aloud.

As if on cue, Lan ran into the room. Maylu's heart gave a leap. Lan was here!

When Lan saw Maylu, his eyes went so wide that Maylu had to suppress a giggle. "Tell me everything!" he said. "What'd I miss?!"

"She got into a little scuffle," Chaud said simply, "with Protoman."

"Protoman?!" Lan exclaimed. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," Chaud said. "You should see Protoman."

"Did she delete him? Did she really?"

Chaud took a breath and told the story. Maylu noticed that he skipped over the poster of Protoman, and most of the part in which they fought with Dark Protoman.

"Wow," Lan said. "Wish I'd been there. Good job, Maylu."

Maylu smiled. "Thanks."

That night, Maylu, Chaud, Lan, and Tori all had dinner in the hospital room and talked about everything that had happened. A table had been set up inbetween the beds, to Maylu and Tori could stay comfortable. Roll, Alphaman, Mega Man, and Iceman chatted in Roll's PET, mostly about Protoman.

"He'll be fine," Roll and Mega Man insisted. "He's always come through before, hasn't he?"

"I guess so," Iceman said.

"So, you feeling any better, Maylu?" Lan asked. "A nice, big, tasty dinner always makes me feel better."

"My stomach does," Maylu replied. "but I'm still sore everywhere else."

"It sure made me feel good," Tori said.

Soon, Mr. Famous and Chief Keiffer came in and chatted with the Net Savers. They told Chaud that though Protoman still had his annoying DarkSoul, he was actually recovering his memory rather quickly and he already wanted to go back to Chaud. Chaud looked as if he could jump up and scream his happiness to the world, but he maintained calm.

"What's going to happen to me?" Alphaman asked.

"We've got a place for you to stay here," Mr. Famous said. "You can be a nurse Navi if you want."

"No!" Chaud said immediately, and everyone laughed, even Alphaman, when he said, "He'll miss and delete all the Navis he's supposed to heal!"

"Miss what?" Lan asked, but everyone was laughing too hard to hear his question.

"I know!" Maylu said. "He can stay with Roll!"

"There's room for two in the PET!" Roll agreed.

"I like that idea better," Alphaman said. "I'll stay with Roll and Maylu."

Chaud let out a sigh of relief and laid back in his chair. "Good. You can stay with Maylu."

Maylu leaned back in her bed and sighed. Things were getting a whole lot better, and the threat of Nebula had died down with their strongest Darkloid back on the Net Saver side. Roll had made a good friend, and she had single-handedly defeated one of the most powerful Navis in the world. But for Maylu, the best thing that night was that Lan was at her side. Lan made everything fun. For Roll, it was Mega Man who made everything an adventure. Yes, things were getting better, and Maylu knew that it wouldn't stop at this. Things would always get better.

The End

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	3. Return of an Enemy

And here we are, part three. Read and review!

Rollblast 3

Return of an Enemy

Maylu sat on the edge of her bed, chatting with Lan on the phone.

"So, when do you think our next mission will be?" Maylu asked.

"Who knows," Lan said, sounding excited, "But I really hope we're paired together!"

"Yeah, me too." Maylu lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. "I was just wondering…Why weren't you called on that last mission?"

"I don't know," Lan said, recalling how injured Maylu had been after her last mission, in which she had been paired with Tori and Chaud. "Famous didn't say."

"Oh, well. Maybe he just thought you needed a break."

"I hope so. Let's request to be together on the next mission."

"I'll do it." Maylu put down the phone and called to her Netnavi. "Roll! Type up an e-mail to Mr. Famous requesting that Lan and Mega Man be paired with us on the next Net Saver mission."

"Sounds good!" Roll replied.

Putting the phone back to her ear, Maylu said, "Roll's got it. So, how's Mega Man?"

The two friends chatted about their Navis, homework, and their favorite TV shows until Maylu looked at the clock and exclaimed, "Wow! It's almost nine! I have to go, Lan."

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

The next day, Maylu met Lan on the way to school.

"Did you finish your homework, Lan?" Maylu asked.

"Yup!" Lan said. "It's thanks to you, too. Since you brought it up last night, I remembered to finish it all! I even did my math."

"I had a lot last night," Maylu said. "Math, chemistry, journalism, and Spanish."

Lan stopped in his tracks. "Spanish?" he said weakly. "I thought that was due Thursday!"

"Today _is_ Thursday, Lan."

Lan went white.

Later that day, Lan and Maylu were sitting next to each other in Spanish class, working with vocabulary flash cards.

"What's this one?" Maylu asked. "_Pupitre?_ Come on, it's from seventh grade."

"Poo-pee-tray?" Lan repeated. "I don't know. A toilet?"

"No!" Maylu sighed. "It means 'desk'."

"I was kidding. I knew that."

"Oh."

--

"Go, go go!"

"You can do it, Maylu!"

"You rock, Lan!"

In the arcade, Lan and Maylu were practicing their Net Saver skills in the Net Battle machine. So far, each Navi had only thrown one attack at the other.

"Cybersword! Areasteal! Battle Chips in!" Lan cried.

A glowing sword materialized on Mega Man's right arm. He vanished and appeared next to Roll.

"Look out, m'lady!" Alphaman cried, who was watching over on the side.

Roll screamed in surprise. Mega Man laughed.

"I won't hurt you, Roll!" he said, holding the sword to her neck to show he had won. "It's just a little bit of playful training."

"Okay," Roll said, relaxing. "Let's battle again!"

"Sure," Mega Man said. "But let's do it in Lan's HP. We should let other people use this machine."

--

"Ready, set, go!"

"Rollblast!"

"Megabuster!"

"Don't hit me, I'm just watching!"

Two attacks fired from one end of the HP to the other, leaving two Navis in heaps and another covering his face. When the smoke cleared, they all saw each other and laughed.

"Now keep in mind," Mega Man said between bursts of laughter, "a Darkloid would never give you time to laugh at him."

"Right." Before Mega Man could do anything, Roll had already used Areasteal to appear next to him and put her Aquasword to his throat, as he had done to her earlier.

"Wow!" Alphaman cried.

"Yikes!" Mega Man said. "With quickness like that, you're amazing! You're even faster than me!"

"Thank you," Roll said, smiling.

After a while, two screens appeared behind the two Navis, and their Net Ops' faces appeared in them.

"Bedtime!" Maylu said to Roll and Alphaman. "We've got a big day tomorrow. There's a party at Net Saver Headquarters to celebrate Protoman's return."

"Same with you," Lan told Mega Man. "We're going, too."

"Wow, Lan!" Mega Man said, sarcastic shock on his face. "You're going to bed? _On time?_"

"That's unusual," Roll said.

Lan frowned. "Well, I have a headache." Everyone could tell it wasn't true. "Just come on."

Mega Man laughed. "I wouldn't miss that party for the world," he said. "I'm really glad Protoman came back." He waved to Roll and said, "See you soon!" before he logged out and Lan's face vanished from the HP.

--

After school, Maylu met Lan on the way to the Net Saver celebration.

"Do you think there will be a party on the Net for the Navis?" Lan asked. "Mega Man wanted to hang out with Protoman for a while."

"I'd think so," Maylu replied. "We'll have to ask Mr. Famous."

Maylu and Lan were right. The Netnavis celebrated in Scilab Area, where they were free to Net Battle, watch from the stands, or just visit with friends. Roll, Alphaman, and Mega Man met with Iceman and Protoman.

"Protoman!" Mega Man said. "It's so neat to see you again!" Before anyone could stop him, Mega Man threw his arms around him.

"Ah!" Protoman cried, caught off guard. "Mega Man, you don't need to do that."

Ignoring Protoman's comment, Roll said, "My turn!" and shoved Mega Man out of the way.

"Ugh. Whatever," Protoman said, and hugged Roll back.

"How sweet," Alphaman commented. Protoman reached over Roll and knocked Alphaman over. But he couldn't hide the feeling that Alphaman just _might_ have the right idea. He shrugged it off, however, when Roll pulled back.

"Do you realize how long it's been since we saw you?" Mega Man said. "Years!"

"We have an excuse to give you a little hug," Roll said, grinning up at the taller Navi.

Protoman shrugged, smiling back. "I guess you're right," he said. "But Mega Man looked like a girl."

"I did not," Mega Man argued. "I was just giving a friendly hug to someone I haven't talked to in forever!"

Roll laughed. "Yeah, you kind of did," she said.

Mega Man frowned, then shrugged. "Whatever."

Maylu and Lan managed to find Chaud and Tori in the crowd of happy Net Savers.

"Hey, Chaud!" Lan said. "Don't worry. I won't hug you like Mega Man did."

"Neither will I," Maylu put in. Then she stopped and said, "Nah, I think I will," and mimicked Roll, hugging him tightly.

Chaud did the same as Protoman. "Whatever," he muttered, and squeezed her back. "I'm glad you all are as happy as I am."

"How sweet," Tori said. Chaud kicked him in the shin, but he had a feeling that matched Protoman's, but it was gone when Maylu let go.

All the Net Savers met with each other in the lobby. Mr. Famous constantly insisted that music was played, so Chief Keiffer finally gave up and let him use the disco ball. Maylu switched back and forth from dancing goofy moves with Lan to dancing goofy moves with Tori, but when she moved to Chaud he just shook his head and insisted that he didn't dance, goofy or not.

While the Net Savers weren't dancing or talking, they were eating. Food had been imported from all over the globe. Maylu, Lan, Tori, and Chaud especially enjoyed the food from Yumland, but they felt sick to their stomach when they spotted Sharo's share.

Soon Chief Keiffer and Mr. Famous stood on the podium and requested that Maylu, Chaud, and Tori come onstage. Mr. Famous welcomed them by saying, "Ladies and gents, I present to you the Net Saver heroes! And one heroine."

Maylu, Chaud, and Tori beamed while the whole room erupted in applause. Then Chaud stepped forward and said, "There's no way to express how happy I am that I have Protoman back. But there's really only two people I can thank for that."

He stepped back and turned around to look at Maylu and Tori. The crowd applauded again. Behind them, the big screen flashed, and on it appeared Scilab Area. Roll, Mega Man, Alphaman, Iceman, and Protoman were all standing together on their own podium.

"Did she just say I deserve some credit?" Alphaman asked. "But I missed three times!"

"But you did provide a distraction," Roll said. "Don't you remember when Dark Protoman had Maylu and me by the throat and you shot him with a High-Cannon? You didn't miss _every_ time."

"Oh, yes," Alphaman said. "I forgot about that part."

"You do realize that I don't remember any of this," Protoman said, "and that I'm sorry for anything I did as Dark Protoman?"

"Yeah, we know," Iceman said. "Don't worry, we forgive you. It wasn't your fault at all."

"Yeah," Chaud said. "It was mine. I was the one who decided to save Lan and Mega Man's rear ends by sacrificing my best friend."

"Don't bring me back into this!" Lan shouted from the audience. Everyone laughed. Lan went on. "You were a good friend and wanted to do anything to save Mega Man. So thank you."

"And I owe you guys some thanks, too," Mega Man said. "Chaud, Protoman, thanks a lot."

"Thanks for saving him," Roll said.

"Thank you, Chaud and Protoman," Iceman said.

"Thanks," Alphaman said, "even though I wasn't there and I didn't even meet Mega Man until last week. He's nice, and thank you for giving me the chance to meet him."

Chaud blushed. Protoman just smiled, as if he wasn't used to receiving thanks. Once again, Roll and Maylu threw their arms around Chaud and Protoman in a tight hug. Soon Mega Man, Alphaman, and Iceman joined Roll, and created a big clump of Netnavis in Scilab Area. In the real world, Lan jumped onstage and joined Maylu, and Chaud was soon being hugged by Maylu, Lan, Tori, Mr. Famous, and even Police Chief Keiffer.

"I love you all," Roll and Maylu said.

--

"I really can't believe you invited us over, Chaud!" Lan exclaimed as they entered his room.

"I can't believe I did, either," Chaud admitted. "That giant hug was a bit weird for a person like me."

Chaud had invited Maylu, Lan, and Tori over to his house, and Protoman had asked permission to have Roll, Alphaman, Mega Man, and Iceman over to the HP. Maylu had talked Chaud into having ice cream, so they all sat up in his room and ate ice cream cones of their favorite flavors.

"This feels so different," Chaud said. "I've never really had a party like this."

"I have these things all the time," Maylu said. "But they're usually with a group of girls and we talk about boys and stuff. What do guys do in their free time?"

"Net Battle!" Lan said at once.

"Comic books," Tori put in.

"Practice my Net Saver skills," Chaud said. "But then again, I'm different."

"You're not different," Maylu said, "you're special."

Chaud shrugged. "That's what everyone says."

Soon Maylu had convinced the boys that playing a game of truth or dare would be fun. Lan asked Chaud first, and to Maylu's surprise he picked dare. Lan told him to pull down his pants and prance around the room singing "The Wheels on the Bus", but Maylu smacked Lan across the face and he quickly changed the dare to just prancing and singing. Chaud refused, and soon the boys got bored and they were all sitting on the floor with nothing to do again.

"You said boys like Net Battling," Maylu piped up. "How about we get all our Navis and make up a little tournament?"

"I like it!" Lan and Tori said together.

"Sure," Chaud said. He got up and walked to his desk. He came back with a notebook and pen and said, "I'll write down the lineup. Should we draw names?"

"Nah," Maylu said. "Just mix them up." She thought a moment, then said, "Let's make it Alphaman versus Iceman, Mega Man versus Roll, and…wait, Protoman doesn't have a partner."

"Oh," Chaud sighed. "What do we do about that? Maybe Protoman shouldn't battle. He just got back from being evil and all…"

"No way!" Maylu said. "He can battle. Unless he doesn't want to. You should ask him."

Roll, Alphaman, Mega Man, Iceman, and Protoman were all sitting in Chaud's HP, chatting about Net Saver missions. Chaud's face appeared on a screen in front of the Navis, and he explained Maylu's idea and about their problem.

"I feel fine enough to fight," Protoman said. "It's all up to you, sir."

"I think that's the first time I didn't want to get that answer from you," Chaud said. Then he said to all the Navis, "Is there anyone who doesn't want to battle? And if you all do, does anyone have a solution?"

"Oh!" Roll chimed in. "I have an idea! How about we—"

But Roll never had time to finish her idea. Instead, the whole HP was suddenly swarming with viruses.

Alphaman started to panic. "Maylu! Battle Chips, please, m'lady!"

"Please, Maylu!" Roll said. Then she screamed as a Shrimpy virus bowled her over.

"Iceman!" Tori said. "Blizzard! Battle Chip in!"

"Protoman! Cybersword, Widesword, Longsword, Battle Chips in!"

"Mega Man! High-Cannon, Battle Chips in! Triple-download!"

"Roll! Alphaman! Aquasword, Firesword, Battle Chips in!"

Roll sliced the Shrimpy in half with her Aquasword, then stood back up to face the swarm of Mettuar that were headed her way.

"Look out, Roll!" came Mega Man's voice.

Roll turned around to see a Viney virus shooting its vines at her. She screamed again, and before she could think she was wrapped up in a web of green vines.

"I'll save you, m'lady!" Alphaman shouted. He ran through all the viruses and raised his Firesword to bring it down on the Viney.

"Watch it!" Protoman yelled. "From what I hear from my operator, you'll just miss and hit her!"

"I'll get it," Mega Man said, leaving his battle with a Lark virus and bounding over to Roll. "Lan! Fire chip, please!"

When Lan had given Mega Man a Heat Shot chip, Mega Man shot the virus square in the face, but it didn't matter.

When the smoke cleared, a glowing barrier was surrounding Roll and the Viney. Roll shouted something, but the special barrier was soundproof.

"Oh, no!" Iceman said.

"What now?" Alphaman cried. Iceman froze another virus that was about to attack.

"There's only one way to get to the virus," Protoman said. "Break the barrier!" He jumped on top of it and began stabbing at it with his sword.

"Here!" Chaud said. "Try another Program Advance!"

"You, too, Mega Man!" Lan said.

Protoman backed away. He held out his right hand as a Cybersword materialized there. On his left hand was a Widesword. Then he raised his swords in the air and they fused together to create the Lifesword Program Advance.

Mega Man did the same, but instead he used three Spreader Battle Chips to create the H-Burst Program Advance.

"Fire at the same time!" Chaud ordered. "Ready, aim, fire!"

Mega Man fired his H-Burst, and Protoman lunged with his Lifesword. Both attacks would have hit at the same time, if the Viney had not vanished, along with Roll.

"Roll!" Maylu cried.

"M'lady!" Alphaman squealed.

"Nebula viruses, no doubt," Chaud grumbled. "We'll look for Roll near the Undernet."

"No!" Alphaman squeaked, his voice even higher. "Not the Undernet!"

"Yes, the Undernet," Iceman said. "Where else would someone like Nebula meet?"

"What are we waiting for?" Mega Man asked. "Let's go!"

--

Deep in Undernet Area Five, Roll appeared, along with the Viney virus. She looked around, and saw no one. The area was completely deserted.

Then suddenly the Viney was deleted, and Roll fell to the ground with a thud.

"Hello, Roll."

Roll jumped back up and spun around to face the Navi that had captured her.

"Vineman!" Roll cried.

"Yes," said the Navi. "That's my name. I brought you here to ask you a question."

Roll scowled. "I'm gonna go ahead and say no."

"I'm sure you're familiar with the Devil Battle Chip, the one your Net Op used at the N1 Grand Prix last year?"

"Yes," Roll said through clenched teeth. The Battle Chip had caused her to lose control of herself and disobey Maylu. She had also hurt Mega Man and caused him to nearly lose the fight. "What about it?"

"It was one of the first Darkchips to be used." Vineman grinned. "And I'm going to have to ask you to use it again, right now."

"No, you idiot!" Roll said, preparing to fight. "That's a stupid question! Why would I do that? I never want to hurt my friends again!"

"The other choice was to just work for us out of your own will, but I guessed you'd turn that down as well. At least under the influence of the Devil Battle Chip, you'd have an excuse."

"No."

"Just as I expected," sighed Vineman. "So stubborn. I guess I'll have to use it on you myself."

"No!" Roll said again. She looked around to try to find the exit to the Undernet. The only thing she knew she could do was run.

"You don't have a choice, now," Vineman said. "The only choice you had was whether you would take it willingly or not. I needn't have even asked." His menacing grin grew wider. "Whenever you're ready."

"I'll never be," Roll said through clenched teeth. "Maybe you should ask Mega." She knew that Mega Man would be able to defeat Vineman in battle. Roll didn't have a chance. But she could try.

"Oh, no," Vineman said. "Mega Man's already triumphed over his DarkSoul once, there's no point in trying again. Now, we just need to delete him. We know he'll never hurt you, just like he didn't last time. We thought you could do our dirty work for us. You know. Kill him from the inside out."

Roll was barely paying attention. She was taking deep breaths, preparing to attack and run.

"Well?" Vineman asked. "What do you say?"

"Rollblast!"

Vineman covered himself with a Leafbarrier, and the attack bounced harmlessly off.

Roll turned and ran as far away as she could before more vines swooped her off her feet.

"That won't do," Vineman said. "'Rollblast' wasn't an option. I need you to stay here, so I can delete your pesky Soul Data with a Darkchip."

--

Alphaman, Mega Man, Protoman, and Iceman were standing outside the gate to the Undernet, listening to instructions from their Net Ops.

"There's no doubt that Nebula will try to cut off our communication again," Chaud said, "so listen now. That virus probably took Roll into the deepest parts of the Undernet. Viruses are all over the place, and they're high-level, too. Keep searching until you find her. Then contact us, if you can."

"I'll give you some Battle Chips, now, Mega Man," Lan said. "How about Guard, AreaSteal, Longsword, Bubble Shot, and Mega-Cannon?"

"Good choices," Mega Man said.

"I'll give you some, too, Alphaman," Maylu said. She gave him Tornado, Recovery, Widesword, Hi-Cannon, and Aqua Tower.

"Ice Ball, Cannon, Mine, Ice Seed, and Blizzard for you, Iceman," Tori said.

"Keep in mind," Chaud said, "We can always add more chips later. This is just in case."

"Right," Protoman said as his Net Op gave him Electrosword, Aquasword, Firesword, Bamboosword, and NeoVariable Sword.

"Let's go," Mega Man said.

Mega Man and Protoman led the way side-by-side into the Undernet. They followed the main path, blasting away at viruses that got in their way.

"We've entered Undernet Area Two," Protoman said after a while. "There's still much farther to go."

Soon all the Navis but Protoman were slumped on the ground, out of breath.

"We've only been running for fifteen minutes!" Protoman said.

"Yeah, we have," Mega Man said, "but we've been running with _you_, and you have a top speed of mach five. We're in shape and all, but not Protoman shape."

"Wow," Alphaman gasped. "No wonder I'm tired."

"There's no time to rest in the middle of a mission," Protoman snapped. "Now come on, we've got a Navi to rescue."

_That's funny, _Mega Man thought once Protoman had everyone up and running again. _I thought I was the only one this into rescuing Roll._

Before long Protoman announced that they had entered Undernet Area Five. This area was darker than usual, at least it looked that way to the Navis.

"Roll's nearby," Mega Man said. "I can feel it."

Protoman didn't say anything, but he could feel it too. _I wonder if I feel it the same way Mega Man does, _Protoman thought. _Here, right in the middle of my chest. My heart is pumping like mad. Why, I wonder?_ Protoman knew that Mega Man could feel Roll's presence because he loved her, even if he denied it, and she had a special place in his heart. But there was no special place in Protoman's heart for Roll. Or was there? _Why do I feel like this?_

"What's that?" Alphaman asked, pointing ahead. "It looks sort of similar to the virus that kidnapped Miss Roll."

Protoman, Mega Man, and Iceman followed Alphaman's eyes towards a tiny green speck on the other side of the area. Just then, a bright light showed them that a Navi had appeared there.

"Come on," Protoman said. "Let's go."

The other Navis started forward, but Protoman didn't move.

"Um, are you okay, Protoman?" Mega Man asked, stepping back to Protoman's side. "You're the one that told us to go."

"I'm thinking," Protoman replied, and he immediately scrunched up his face to make himself look lost in thought. He couldn't decide whether to tell Mega Man or not about his own confusion, about this feeling.

Mega Man shrugged. "Okay. Well, I'm gonna go on, then." He waited again, but Protoman still didn't move, so he ran ahead to catch up with the others.

"You're feeling it, too?"

Protoman jumped three feet in the air. He whirled around, Firesword at the ready, and faced whoever had startled him.

"Oh," Protoman said, lowering his sword and switching it back to his own. "It's just you, Chaud Blaze, sir." He paused. "Was I not hiding it well enough?"

"Oh, yeah, you were doing a decent job. It's just that I know you too well. Even after all these years." Chaud let out his breath. "I've been getting a weird feeling, too. But it's not around Roll, like you." He smiled. "I get mine around Maylu. And don't worry, no one's around to hear this. They're all in my room, and I'm in the basement pretending to get Lan some snacks."

"It's odd," Protoman said, relaxing now that he knew it was only him and his Net Op. "I can feel her presence. I don't understand. It all started when she gave me that hug in Scilab Area. Is it love?"

Immediately Protoman's face turned red and he whipped his hand to his mouth as if to stop the words from repeating themselves. "I mean, um, is it, uh, is it friendship, Chaud Blaze, sir?"

To Protoman's surprise, his Net Op was laughing. "That was the worst cover-up job I have _ever_ seen!" he gasped.

Protoman's face now matched his outfit. "I'm sorry, Chaud Blaze, sir," Protoman said hastily. "Um, sir, I need to go rescue the hostage, sir."

"No," Chaud said, still laughing slightly. "You need to go rescue your _first love_!"

Protoman snorted and turned around, not waiting for his Net Op's order to leave.

--

"No, no, no!"

Roll kicked at the vines, but all they did was wrap tighter around her feet. Her arms were already pressed too hard to her sides, and the vines were winding around her neck.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Vineman said. "Just keep kicking, and soon you won't be able to move at all. In case you haven't notice, fighting me just makes it worse."

Vineman was right. Two more useless lashes and the vines had her wrapped so she couldn't move at all.

"Let...me...go," she gasped. The vines were squeezing too tightly around her throat now. "Mega will save me!"

"Mega will save me!" Vineman mimicked in a high-pitched voice. "How cute. You've even got a little nickname for him. Anyway, no, he won't save you, and you need to give up. Hold still."

"Stop!"

Vineman turned around, and Roll saw out of the corner of her eye three Navis headed her way.

"Widesword!" Alphaman shouted, and lunged at the base of the tangle of vines. Of course, he missed by inches, but Iceman followed up with his Cannon and shot right through it, leaving Roll free to drop to the ground, gasping.

"Sorry, m'lady," Alphaman said, helping her up.

"It's okay," Roll smiled. "Where's Mega?"

"Over there," Iceman said, pointing.

Mega Man was facing Vineman with a Longsword materialized on his right arm. Protoman was running up silently behind Vineman. Mega Man spotted him, and signaled to wait.

"Ah, you did rescue her," Vineman asked, hiding his surprise. "What do I have to do to get rid of you?"

"Well, first of all, you could leave her alone," Mega Man said, and his eyes flickered to Protoman.

"And second," Protoman said, "you could _die!_"

"What?" Mega Man asked, laughing a little. "How would dying get rid of me?"

"You're right," Vineman said, moving to the right to dodge Protoman's Firesword. "That made absolutely no sense!"

But Protoman wasn't listening. _I'm doing this for Roll_, he kept telling himself. _Is this really love?_

He was brought back to reality by the thick vine that smashed him to the ground.

"Protoman!" Roll cried.

"This is what you get for interfering with me!" Vineman cried. A Darkchip appeared in the air, and Roll was terrified that Vineman was going to use it on someone other than himself. She sighed with relief when the dark energy was absorbed by Vineman and not Protoman or Mega Man, or herself.

"Wait!" she shouted. "That's not good, either!"

"What's not good?" Iceman asked. Then he saw Vineman and said, "Oh." He ran to help Mega Man.

"Run!" Alphaman shouted. He turned, but Roll grabbed his arm first.

"No," she said. "We've got to save Mega and Protoman!"

"Oh, they'll be fine," Alphaman said, struggling against Roll. "Trust me."

Roll realized what she'd said. _Mega_. The truth was, it sounded like a cute little nickname she'd use if he were her boyfriend. But she liked it.

Mega Man was watching Vineman, waiting for the right moment to strike. But Protoman was looking at Vineman as if he was turning into a giant scorpion.

"No!" he suddenly shouted, and ran away from Vineman towards Roll and Alphaman.

"What's wrong?" Roll asked as he grabbed her arm.

"He's using a Darkchip!" he said.

"Yeah, we know that," said Alphaman, who was being still being held by Roll. "Mega Man seems 's got you all worked up?"

"Mega Man got over his DarkSoul!" Protoman answered. "I still have mine, and it might come out with all this dark energy around!"

"Can it do that?" Roll asked.

"I don't know," Protoman said. "Why take chances? I don't feel right. Then again, maybe it's because of—" He cut himself off. His last word was meant to be _you_.

"What?" Roll pressed.

Protoman pretended he hadn't heard her. He turned to the other Navis and yelled, "Iceman, Mega Man, we've got to get out of here!"

Protoman stopped and turned around to see that Vineman had finished with his Darkchip and was now dodging every one of Mega Man's attempts to hit him. Iceman was waiting for Vineman to stay in one spot so he could freeze him with his Blizzard Battle Chip.

"Come on!" Protoman shouted.

Mega Man looked over at Protoman, Roll, and Alphaman. In the split second it had taken for Mega Man to turn his head, Vineman had blasted him with thorns from his vines. He collapsed, and his sword vanished from his arm.

"Mega!" Roll screamed. She let go of Alphaman's arm.

"Oh, dear," Alphaman said.

All of a sudden, Protoman didn't care what happened to Mega Man. He didn't even care what happened to the hostage he was holding onto. Then he knew he needed to get away. He shook his head violently to clear it of the dark thoughts and repeated, "Come on!"

"Blizzard!" Iceman shouted, and blasted Vineman with a snowstorm. Vineman was left frozen to the spot. To Mega Man he said, "You okay?"

Mega Man slowly stood up and rubbed his head. "Yeah, I think—watch out!"

Vineman had already broken through the thick layer of ice that had covered him a second before. He hit Iceman with a powerful thorn attack and trapped him and Mega Man in a web of vines.

"Protoman, it's okay!" Roll said. "You can stay here, but I've gotta help Mega!"

"I'll get out of here," Alphaman volunteered.

"You're not going anywhere, girl!" Protoman said. Then he shook his head. "Wait, I didn't mean that...Roll, we've got to leave!"

Roll had a terrified look on her face. "Yeah, you're right," she said. "Are you sure you didn't mean that?"

"If we don't hurry, I will mean it!" he said. "Mega Man will be fine, but we have _got to go_!"

"_You_ have got to go," Roll said, "but I've gotta help Mega!"

"I'll go!" Alphaman repeated. Protoman ignored him.

"No!" Protoman growled menacingly. "You're staying right here!" He turned, still holding on tightly to her arm, and started pulling her towards the battle.

"Make up your mind!" Roll screamed. "Rollblast!"

She used her free hand to hit Protoman in the back of the head with her attack. He let go of her arm and whirled around to face her.

"Roll, I'm sorry!" he said. "I didn't mean it, I just can't control myself any—"

He whipped his sword to her throat and held it there.

"Protoman, get a grip!" Roll shouted, backing away.

"I'm...trying..." Protoman withdrew his sword, gasping for breath as if he were fighting a powerful enemy in the dark. His sword vanished, and he tried to calm himself down.

Roll twirled around and ran back to where Mega Man and Iceman were fighting Vineman, shouting over her shoulder at Protoman, "You're right! Go!"

"Uh, sorry, sir," Alphaman said, "But I'm with her this time." And he ran after Roll.

"What's going on?" Protoman panted, falling to his knees. "I don't...I can't fight..."

"Protoman!"

Protoman turned his head to see Chaud's face behind him.

"I'm sorry," Chaud said. "I should have checked on you sooner. What's wrong?"

"I don't know, Chaud Blaze, sir," Protoman admitted, holding his head in his hands. "I don't know..."

"Protoman, get out of there!" Chaud ordered. "Get out, _now_!"

"I'm sorry, Chaud Blaze, sir," Protoman said, "but...I'm _not leaving_!"

Protoman stood up, suddenly full of energy again. He held out his hand, and the sword re-materialized there. He raised his new sword and slashed the screen in half.

--

Chaud gasped. "He just cut off my communication!" he said.

"Oh, no!" Lan said, setting aside his box of cookies. "His DarkSoul must have taken over again! It takes such a long time to completely get rid of it."

"We haven't been checking in enough!" Tori said. "This is our fault!"

"I'm getting Alphaman out of there," Maylu said. "He's not good enough to fight Protoman!"

"Calm down, guys!" Lan said. "If Mega Man could fight against his own DarkSoul and win, then Protoman can fight, too! Don't worry, he'll be fine."

"Protoman was _not_ programmed the way Mega Man was!" Chaud told him. "You should know that by now. And he's weak from the DarkSoul Maylu just deleted!"

"Oh," Lan said. "Yeah..."

"But he did get his Soul Data back," Maylu pointed out. "He's still got Soul Data, he can still fight."

"We can only hope," Chaud said. And it was the fault of Lan and Maylu that he even thought like that.

--

"Rollblast!"

Roll hit Vineman in the back with her attack, but it barely seemed to hurt him at all.

"Ah, there she is!" Vineman said, turning around. "Change your mind?"

"No!" Roll shouted. "And I never will! My answer is final! I came to rescue Mega!"

Vineman chuckled. "Who's rescuing who, now?" he asked.

"Roll!" Mega Man said. "Get out of here! And take Iceman with you!"

"Look," Roll said. "The last person that told me to get out of here has just turned against us. I've got to get _you_ out of here so we can help him!"

"You can't mean..." Mega Man said, wide-eyed, "Protoman?"

"No," said a voice, "She means Dark Protoman."

Roll screamed.

Protoman had grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air. "Short, aren't you?" he said, looking at how far her feet were dangling from the ground. "That makes it easier on me."

"Roll!" Mega Man cried. "Protoman, put her down!"

Protoman grinned. "No," he said. "In fact, I think I'll go harass her operator, too. As well as yours." He grinned. "And my own."

"Maylu!" Roll choked.

Suddenly the whole scene vanished from the Undernet, leaving the area looking as if no one had ever been there.

--

Roll, still being held by Protoman, Iceman and Mega Man, still being held by Vineman, and Alphaman all appeared in Chaud's living room.

"Yikes!" Maylu cried. "I only logged Alphaman out, not everyone!"

"Nebula's sure gotten into a habit of hiding their generators," Chaud commented.

"Ah," Protoman said, spotting Chaud. "We meet again, as former partners."

"We're still partners," Chaud countered.

"Right," Vineman said. "Partners always try to kill each other."

"Shut up, Vineman!" Lan ordered, and he put another Battle Chip into his PET. Mega Man's body caught on fire, burning the vines to a crisp. Then Mega Man ran over and cut Iceman down.

"I'll get out of here, now," Alphaman said, and he logged out back into Maylu's PET.

"Coward," Protoman sneered, with Roll still dangling from his hands. "Who's leaving next?"

"Him," Vineman said, pointing at Iceman. "The short one." Threatening vines sprouted from the floor in a circle around Iceman.

"No, he's not!" Tori said, pulling his Syncrochip out of his shirt pocket. "Iceman, get back in the PET and we'll Crossfuse!"

"Yeah!" Iceman said, and he vanished from the room.

Tori immediately stuck the Syncrochip into the PET. "Crossfusion!" he said.

"Good job, Tori!" Lan said. "Come on, Mega Man! We'll Crossfuse, too!"

"Okay, Lan!" Mega Man said, and did the same.

"Two on two, now," Vineman said. "Darkloids versus humans."

"Let Roll go!" Maylu cried.

"Why?" Protoman asked. "Are you going to Crossfuse, too? Two on three isn't fair."

"We'll just have to call in another Darkloid," Vineman said. "Who shall it be? Blizzardman? Burnerman? Flashman? Desertman? Bubbleman? Cosmoman? Savageman? Or Videoman?"

"That's a lot," Alphaman said from the PET.

"Most of those Navis have been deleted more than once," Chaud said. "There's no way you can bring them back again."

"Ignorant human," Vineman laughed. "Of course we can."

"Maylu!" Roll gasped. "Maylu, I can't hold on much longer!" She kicked at Protoman's chest, but he was holding her too far out, and she was too weak.

"I'll get her," Lan told Maylu. "Megabuster!"

"It won't be that easy," Protoman said. He held onto Roll with one hand and blocked the attack with a Neon Variable Sword that had appeared on his other arm.

Lan jumped in the air to dodge the Sonicboom that Protoman threw at him. The Sonicboom smashed into the wall, harming no one but toppling over the stand that the TV was sitting on. The TV smashed to the ground, sending tiny shards of glass flying all across the room.

"Hey!" Chaud shouted angrily. "You have no right to destroy my living room!"

"Ice Breath!" Tori yelled. He exhaled a blast of ice at Vineman, who was too distracted by Mega Man to think to move.

"Got him," Tori said, covering him with another sheet of ice. "Now, put her down, Protoman!"

"That won't be that easy, either," Protoman repeated. His Neon Variable Sword changed to a Firesword, and he ran to Vineman's side and slashed through the ice, freeing Vineman.

"Oh, no!" Lan said, slapping his hand to his head. "I forgot to put better Battle Chips in the PET!"

"Then just use the one's you gave to Mega Man earlier," Tori said. "Ice Seed, Battle Chip in!"

What looked like a bomb appeared in Tori's outstretched hand. He threw it at Protoman and Vineman's feet, and the region that they were standing on was covered by ice.

"Darn it, Tori!" Chaud yelled. "This is my _house_!"

Vineman slipped on the ice, but steadied himself with his own vines. Protoman, however, didn't have any vines, and he slid to the floor, but still held on to Roll.

"What does it take to make you let go of her?" Lan shouted.

Roll's eyes were closed now. Protoman wrapped his arm around her neck instead, giving her room to breathe. He decided that he didn't want her deleted, at least not yet. He lowered his Firesword to the floor, melting some of the ice and allowing himself to stand up.

"Roll! Listen to me!" Maylu screamed. "Wake up!"

"She's out cold," Vineman said merrily. "You're turn!"

Vines grew up out of Chaud's carpet and wrapped around Maylu's feet.

"No!" Lan said. "Maylu, watch out!"

There really wasn't much that Maylu could do, now that her feet were anchored to the ground. More vines, this time thorny, wrapped around her arms and hoisted her off the floor and wrapped around her neck, so she was in the same hopeless position as her Navi.

"What sword did I use earlier?" Lan asked. "Was it Longsword? Battle Chip in! I think!"

Lan was right. He jumped over to Maylu and cut the vines that were holding her. She fell to the ground, most of her consciousness gone. Once she was free, he used an Areasteal to appear next to Vineman and slash him across the face.

"Idiot human!" Vineman said. "You attack me, you face the wrath of a Darkloid!"

"Uh, oh," Lan said sarcastically.

Vineman held out his hand, and another shimmering Darkchip appeared in his hand.

"Another one?" Chaud breathed. "He'll be more powerful than ever!"

"And one for my partner, too," Vineman said, and he threw one to Protoman.

"Don't trigger it, Protoman!" Chaud ordered.

"Why not?" Protoman asked. "Afraid to get your butt kicked?"

"No," Chaud said. "I'm afraid to lose my friend again."

"In case you haven't noticed," Vineman said, "you already have."

Maylu stood up, rubbing her arms and leaned against Chaud for support. "Maybe he has," she said, "but we got him back last time, and we can do it again."

_Oh, no, _Chaud thought as his heart leaped. _I can't have this feeling now! It'll blur my thoughts! I can't think when my first love is leaning on me! _But he let Maylu stay there, wishing he didn't have those thoughts, and even put his arms on her shoulders to keep her steady.

"I don't want to wait any longer," Vineman said. "Darkchip, activate!"

More and more dark energy poured from the evil Battle Chip, and Vineman absorbed it all.

Suddenly a thought struck Maylu. "Lan, get away!" she screamed.

"Don't worry," Chaud comforted her. "He's already defeated his DarkSoul."

"Why take chances?" Maylu argued. Chaud just sighed. It was hard to calm down a girl.

"I'm fine, Maylu," Lan called over his shoulder. "But you may not be for long. Chaud, get her out of here!"

"Wait here," Chaud said to Maylu. "I have to stop Protoman, first."

Maylu nodded and moved to the wall to lean against it instead.

Chaud ran to Protoman's side and attempted to grab the Darkchip from his hand.

"Feisty, eh?" Protoman laughed. "I have a way to calm you down."

Chaud's stomach did a backflip out of fear for what he'd do, but he didn't show it. "What's that?" he asked, trying to maintain his cool.

Protoman didn't answer. Instead, he logged out of Chaud's living room, forgetting about the Darkchip and taking Roll with him.

"Roll!" Maylu cried. "Where did he take her?"

"Right here," came a voice from Chaud's pocket.

Taking the PET out of his pocket, Chaud scowled at Protoman. "And what good did that do?" Chaud inquired.

Protoman smirked. "Oh, it didn't do any _good_," he said.

The PET suddenly began to release a good amount of evil power, and it wrapped itself around Chaud.

"What are you doing?" Maylu screamed at Protoman. "He's your Net Op, and your _best friend!_"

"Yeah, and now we can be evil buddies," answered Protoman's voice sarcastically.

The dark force filled the whole room, and Maylu sank to her knees and held her head in her hands to keep from crying out in agony.

"Oh, no," Lan breathed, this time for real. "He's using Chaud, now, too!"

"It's up to us, now, Lan," Tori said.

"Yes!" Vineman was declaring joyfully. "A human pawn!"

When the blackness subsided, Crossfusion Dark Protoman was standing in the center of the room, grinning in a sinister way.

Inside his own head, Chaud was fighting to control himself. But he menacing voice of his Netnavi was speaking to him instead.

"I've got you now," Protoman was saying so that only Chaud could hear him. "You're all mine. Just try to fight. I dare you."

Chaud struggled to move his own mouth, to tell Maylu to run, to scream his anger. But instead, his mouth and voice worked together against his will to say, "Let the _real_ battle begin."

Maylu gasped. "He's taken over Chaud!"

"What now?" Lan yelled. "We can't hurt Chaud or Protoman! We're stumped!"

"Exactly," Vineman said cheerily. "We win no matter what. Either you lose your own lives or the life of the world's best Net Saver."

Those words got Lan pumping again. "_I'm_ the best Net Saver!" he shouted. "And I'll prove it!"

"Lan!" Tori cried. "Hit Chaud's symbol! It always works!"

Lan and Tori launched themselves into battle, while Maylu thought frantically about where Roll might be. Finally she pulled out her PET and saw Roll there, being held up by Alphaman, eyes fluttering open.

Roll suddenly cried out, and she jumped from Alphaman's grasp. "What's going on? Where's Protoman?"

"Ah! You're awake," Alphaman said. "I'm afraid that I have no information whatsoever."

"Calm down!" Maylu whispered. "Protoman's out here. He did some dark Crossfusion with Chaud, and now Chaud lost control of himself. You and I need to Crossfuse to help Lan and Tori!"

"But you look horrible!" Roll argued.

"You can't fight Chaud!" Alphaman agreed.

"But I can try," Maylu finished. She slowly stood up, ignoring Roll and Alphaman's protests and put some Battle Chips into the PET, followed by the Syncrochip. She would have shouted "Crossfusion!" if she didn't want to use up the last bit of energy she had left.

Vineman, Chaud, Lan, and Tori didn't notice Maylu. They were too caught up in fighting each other.

_How should I do this?_ Maylu asked herself. _I need to hit Chaud's emblem as quick as possible and get the heck out of there._

She flattened herself against the wall and tiptoed around to where Chaud was fighting. Without thinking so she didn't give herself a chance to change her mind, she shouted, "Rollblast!" and aimed at Chaud's chest.

The attack missed, but it did manage to score across his arm. It didn't do enough damage to slow him down, but it made him angry.

"You _did_ Crossfuse!" he said, taking his attention from Lan and turning to Maylu. "Now you'll die, too!"

He raised his sword and prepared to bring it down, but Maylu sliced off the end of it with another Rollblast.

Chaud growled something foul and attempted to grab Maylu's neck again, but Lan had caught sight of them and had run over to help Maylu. He knocked Chaud over with one blast from his Mega-Cannon and turned to Maylu.

"What are you doing?" he asked worriedly. "You'll get yourself killed!"

Maylu stood up and glared at Lan. "Oh, so you can fight and I can't?" she asked. "Is it because I'm a girl?"

"No!" Lan yelled. "It was because you're still weak from when Vineman attacked you!"

Maylu ignored him. Instead, she waited for Chaud to stand up before she shouted, "Triple Arrow!" and hit him just below his symbol with three sharp blows.

"You're getting to be quite annoying," Chaud said heatedly. "This time, I'll do away with you for good!"

"No, you won't!" Lan said. "Maylu, get behind me!"

Instead, Maylu moved in front of Lan and said, "Lan's right. You won't do away with any of us. Chaud, you know you don't want to."

"You haven't been fighting Chaud at all," he answered. "It's me, Protoman, who has taken him over."

"Yeah, whatever," Maylu said. She thought frantically about which Battle Chip would be the best to finish off Protoman's DarkSoul.

"Heart Flash!" she decided, even though it wasn't a Battle Chip.

The attack hit right on target, and Protoman cried out in pain. Maylu immediatley felt a little better, since the Heart Flash attack tended to help her recover.

"Maylu," Lan said, "I think you did it again."

Maylu and Lan, along with Tori and Vineman, watched as the Crossfusion came undone and Crossfusion Protoman separated into two figures. Chaud had enough strengh to watch as Protoman split into yet two more figures, one who looked normal, and the other who had a darker shade to him.

"Protoman's DarkSoul has been unleashed!" Vineman said. He looked at Maylu. "You can't urge this one to go back to the good side," he said, "because this one _has_ no good side!"

Maylu immediately struck right through the middle of Protoman's DarkSoul before it even had time to move. It broke up into tiny little bits of data and disappeared into thin air.

Vineman glowered. "You may have defeated my this time," he said, "but Master Shademan has another plan of his own. That one will be put into action _tomorrow_." He smiled evilly, and that grin did not waver as he logged out.

Chaud and Protoman slumped to the ground, eyes closed, both of them entirely worn out.

Lan's Crossfusion came undone, followed by Tori and Maylu's. Soon all the Net Ops and their Netnavis were standing in Chaud's living room, exhausted, but smiling triumphantly at each other. That is, all of them except for Chaud and Protoman.

"Will he be okay?" Maylu asked, bending down to look at Chaud's face. It was cut and bruised.

"I don't know," Roll answered, leaning down to Protoman. "They've been through a lot."

"But we won!" Lan said. "Protoman's DarkSoul is gone! The Darkloids have a brand-spanking new reason to fear us! We know how to fight Darkchips!"

"Don't get too excited, Lan," Mega Man said, placing a hand on his Net Op's shoulder to stop him from jumping up and down. "We don't yet know the cost of that victory."

"Well, we did save Protoman again," Tori said. "We'll just have to see if it pays off."

--

Chaud had been sent immediatley to the hospital wing to recover. He hadn't yet woken up, and Maylu still couldn't shake the feeling that he might never open those intelligent, clever, bright blue eyes. Netnavis were made to take that kind of damage, but humans weren't.

Mr. Famous had forced Maylu to lay down in her own hospital bed, next to Chaud's. Lan and Tori sat in chairs next to the beds.

"He'll be fine," Roll kept saying as Alphaman backed her up by nodding his head.

"I know," Maylu said. But deep down she wasn't sure.

"Why would he never wake up?" Lan said. "He's come around so many times, I have no fear at all that he'd not wake up."

"You're right, Lan," Tori said. "Maylu, don't worry about it."

As if he had been listening, Chaud stirred in his bed, and his eyes fluttered open. He sat up and looked around the room.

Maylu suddenly let out her breath, not even realizing that she had been holding it. Lan and Tori smiled at Maylu in a told-you-so way.

"Am I dead?" Chaud asked.

"No!" Maylu said happily, although she almost wanted to ask the same question. "We got rid of Protoman's DarkSoul!"

"Protoman!" Chaud suddenly cried. "Is he okay?"

"Never better," came Protoman's answering voice from the bedside table.

Chaud picked up his PET and saw that all the Netnavis were standing next to Protoman, who was smiling from ear to ear at his Net Op.

"It's all thanks to Maylu," Protoman said.

Chaud's stomach was unexpectedly full of butterflies again at the mention of Maylu's name. _Should I say something about this? _he wondered, then quickly changed his mind and said instead, "Thank you, Maylu."

Maylu beamed.

--

Afterward, Lan took everyone over to his favorite restaraunt in Dentech City, Number Two Curry. Chaud agreed to go, even though he didn't feel at all like eating anything.

"Isn't this restaraunt run by World Three?" Chaud inquired as they sat down at their table.

"Yeah," Lan admitted, "but now that Wily's gone, they haven't been getting into any trouble lately."

"As Net Savers, we should still do something," Chaud argued.

Maylu smiled. "Can't you take a break from your job for just a few hours?" she asked, and Chaud nodded, mesmerized just by looking at her face.

Soon the waitress, Maddi, came to their table. "What do you brats want me to get you?" she asked.

"Just the kind of politeness I would expect from World Three," Chaud said. Maddi frowned and told them to hurry up.

The four friends chatted as they ate the world's second-best curry. They talked about what their next missions might be, about what the Darkloids might be up to, about the next time they could get together and just have fun, and even about how good the curry was.

As Maylu sat in the best restaraunt in the city with her best friends in the world, her heart and soul were full of happiness. She remembered after her last mission when she was thinking about how things would always get better, and now she knew that she had been right. Things were better already.

Beside her, Lan spilled his water down his front when Chaud flipped a piece of his chicken at him. Tori fell over in his seat from laughing so hard, and when Lan asked Maddi for a towel she just snickered and told him to use his napkin. Maylu giggled to herself and wondered if she could ever find friends better than these.

_The End_

You've finished Rollblast 3! I hope you enjoyed it. Please review!


	4. Meddler Medi

Hey! Time for number four. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!

Rollblast 4

Meddler Medi

Bang! Crash!

Roll screamed as a fiery blast flew right past her shoulder.

"Watch it, Roll!" Protoman shouted.

Roll, Protoman, and Mega Man were fighting a group of viruses that had entered Lan's HP. Mega Man had been hosting a get-together party with Roll and Protoman, and Alphaman had been sent on an errand by Maylu to go order some more Battle Chips. Tori said that he had too much homework and didn't have time to hang out with them that night. Roll, Protoman, and Mega Man had been interrupted by swarms of viruses that had gotten through the firewall.

"Megabuster!" Mega Man shot down three Spikey viruses with shots from the cannon on his arm.

"Sonicboom!" Protoman took down four Cannodumb viruses.

"Rollblast!" Roll hit two Mettuar.

Not much later the area had been cleared of all the viruses.

"Why did they attack here?" Roll asked. "There's nothing valuable in Lan's HP."

"Except for three Net Savers," Protoman said.

"I don't think those were Nebula viruses," Mega Man said. "They weren't as powerful as the last group we defeated."

"Perhaps that's what they want us to think," Protoman said. "Why else would viruses suddenly attack Lan's HP?"

"Who knows," Mega Man said, "But we were having fun until they got here, so let's worry about it later."

Roll, Mega Man, and Protoman were practicing their Net Saver skills so Protoman had something to do. All of Roll or Mega Man's other suggestions seemed to bore him. Roll finally said that they should practice, because the last fight they had seemed to last much longer than it should have.

"All right," Protoman said. "Roll, see if you can hit me while I'm moving at top speed."

The Navis were currently working on moving targets. It wasn't as easy, Protoman pointed out, to hit something that wouldn't sit still.

Protoman ran around Roll in a wide circle while Mega Man stood to the side. Protoman's top speed was around mach five, so Roll was unable to pinpoint exactly where Protoman was.

Soon she figured out a way that she knew wouldn't miss. "Rollblast!" she said, and threw her attack in all directions around her.

Protoman was hit in the side and he stumbled. "Good," he said. "That hurt. I guess it was supposed to."

"No!" Roll said. "I didn't mean to hurt you! I just wanted to make sure I hit my target."

"It's fine. You're turn, Mega Man."

Roll and Mega Man switched places, and Protoman did the same to Mega Man as he had done to Roll. Mega Man fired straight ahead with his Megabuster, and hit Protoman in the same place Roll had.

"Ow!" Protoman shouted. "_That_ is going to be sore."

The Navis practiced for a long time, until Alphaman got back. Then they changed their goal to Alphaman being able to hit a target at all.

Unknown to the Navis, someone else was watching them.

"That blue one is especially good," the spy said. "And he's cute."

"Oh, you're not supposed to be looking for cute Navis," the spy's Net Op said. "Get down there and introduce yourself. You're supposed to be looking for someone who can help. They got past our all of viruses without any casualties, and there are only three of them."

"But I was having fun," the Navi said. "Those red and blue Navis are highly skilled, and they don't look to bad, either. It's fun to spy on cute Navis."

"In case you haven't noticed," the Net Op said, "they're hanging out with a girl. One of those 'cute Navis' has a girlfriend already, and you don't know which one it is. I'm guessing it's not the gray one. It's best not to fall in love and then find out he's taken."

"Whatever," the Navi said. She stepped out from behind a column in the HP and strode out into the middle of the training session, where a light gray Navi was currently firing shot after shot at the red Navi, but was missing horribly, even though the red Navi was standing in one spot, looking bored.

"Hey, guys!" the Navi called.

Roll, Mega Man, Protoman, and Alphaman turned around to see the Navi walking towards them. She looked around the HP as if she was slightly impressed at the damage Alphaman had done.

"Do you do this every day?" Mega Man asked, "Because you sure look like you do. Stride into people's HPs."

"No," the Navi answered. "I was sent by my Net Op to find a decent group of Net Savers to help us."

"How did you get past the firewall?" Protoman inquired.

"It wasn't too hard," the Navi replied. "Just a few Battle Chips and it opened right up."

"That's illegal!" Alphaman pointed out.

She strode right past Roll, Protoman, and Alphaman and stuck her hand out to Mega Man. "Hi," she said flirtatiously. "My name's Medi."

"Hi," Mega Man said, but his arm was still replaced by his Megabuster from his earlier mock battle with Protoman. "I'm Mega Man." He pointed with his free hand to all the others. "That's Roll, that's Protoman, and that's Alphaman."

"Nice to meet you all," Medi said, walking over to Protoman. "You're really fast," she said. "Protoman, was it? The Navi of Chaud Blaze, the best Net Saver that the world has to offer?"

"Yes," Protoman said, "but I'd have to admit that my place as the world's best Net Saver is quickly being replaced by those two Navis." He pointed to Roll and Mega Man.

"Oh, really?" Medi asked. She sauntered over to Roll and said, "I've never even heard of you. Roll, was it?"

"Yes," Roll said, fists clenched at her side. "And I'm not the best, he is." She flicked her eyes to Mega Man. _This is weird, _Roll thought. _She tries to shake Mega's hand and now it's like I hate her. I shouldn't hate anyone! _She frowned to herself. _What if Mega chooses her over me? _she wondered suddenly, her anger turning to worry. _She's pretty, and she's flirting with him!_

"Oh, yeah," Medi said. "You said you're Mega Man. I've heard of you. You're pretty popular. Lan Hikari's your Net Op, right?"

"Yeah," Mega Man said.

Alphaman crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "Can you please tell us what you want?"

"Oh, yeah," Medi said, "About that. My Net Op, Jasmine, wanted to find some good Net Savers to help her with an errand she needs to run."

"And what's that?" Roll asked, imitating Alphaman.

"We need to get into the Undernet," Medi said.

"No!" Alphaman immediately wailed. "I just went in there not too long ago, and I don't want to have to go back so soon!"

"Why do you have to go to the Undernet?" Protoman asked, suddenly interested.

"Jasmine heard that Nebula is meeting there," Medi said. "She and I both want to go there, even though we're not Net Savers. We couldn't contact Mr. Fortune or whatever his name is because we knew he'd just say, 'Don't worry, we'll take care of it.' We don't want _them_ to take care of it! _We_ want to take care of it."

"You're right about Mr. _Famous_," Roll said. "That's exactly what he'd say, and we agree. Nice meeting you, Medi, and thanks for the heads up, but we'll take care of it." Smiling, she looked at Mega Man. "What do you say? I'll call Maylu."

"Wait," Protoman said. "Don't worry, Medi, you can come along. But we do need to contact Mr. Famous. We just won't mention you to him."

"Good idea," Mega Man said, not seeing Roll's surprised face. "Let's call our Net Ops. Is Jasmine nearby?"

"She's in Higsby's Chip Shop," Medi answered. "I'll call her after you talk to your Net Ops."

While Roll, Mega Man, Protoman, and Alphaman spent time together, Lan had invited over Maylu and Chaud. Lan's parents were out for the day. Lan spent the whole time eating, and Maylu and Chaud had chatted about previous Net Saver missions and wondering about what was yet to come.

"Lan! Maylu! Chaud! We need to talk!"

"Yeah, Mega Man?" Lan asked picking up his PET. He was surprised to see an extra Navi in it. "Who's that?" Lan asked.

"This is Medi," Mega Man said. "She needs our help."

Maylu and Chaud had picked up their PETs, too.

"She doesn't really need our help," Roll insisted. She and Alphaman had gone back to their PET. "She just wants to tag along on a mission we need to go on."

"We need to contact Mr. Famous," Protoman said from Chaud's PET. "And, Chaud Blaze, sir, may I have permission to do the talking?"

Chaud looked a little surprised, but said, "Yeah, I guess."

Protoman dialed up the Net Saver Headquarters and explained about how he had heard that Nebula was meeting in the Undernet. Mr. Famous tried to assign the mission to someone else, saying that Roll, Mega Man, Protoman, and Alphaman had gotten the last mission and were probably tired. Protoman insisted that they were okay, and he finally gave the mission to Maylu, Lan, and Chaud.

"I'll go get Jasmine," Medi said to Mega Man.

--

"Jasmine!"

Medi appeared back in her own PET, and Jasmine looked down and said, "Well, what's the news?"

"They agreed," Medi said. "And up close, that blue one is really cute. His name's Mega Man. His Net Op's cute, too." She smiled.

"Neat," Jasmine said. "Lan Hikari's house, right?"

"Right."

--

When Medi had left, Mega Man explained to the Net Ops everything that had gone on.

"Medi and her Net Op wanted to go on the mission," Mega Man said, "but they knew that Mr. Famous wouldn't let them, so they looked for Net Savers that could accompany them on the mission without letting Mr. Famous know."

"I see," Chaud said. "I get it."

"So they're sort of sneaking their way into going," Maylu said.

"I don't think they should go!" Roll agreed. "They're not Net Savers!"

Just then, the doorbell rang. Lan got up and ran to answer it.

"Hi!" Jasmine said. "I'm Medi's Net Op, Jasmine."

"Hi!" Lan said. "Come on in! Our Navis are ready to go!"

"You must be Jasmine," Chaud said, getting up from the couch as Lan and Jasmine came in. "I'm Chaud Blaze."

"Hello," Jasmine said. "Yes, I'm Medi's Net Op." She looked at Maylu. "You must be that one pink Navi's operator. Hi."

"Yeah, hi," Maylu said.

Maylu, Lan, Chaud, and Jasmine jacked all their Navis into Lan's computer. They all stood in the HP, waiting for instructions from their Net Ops.

"All right," Lan said. "You guys head into the Undernet, and contact us if you have any trouble."

"Shouldn't we take any chips with us?" Roll asked. "Just in case?"

"Nah," Lan said. "We were fine last time. Hopefully Nebula won't try to mess with the communication, since they don't know we're coming."

"Um, wait, m'lady," Alphaman called to Maylu. "Do I really have to go on this one? That last fight was very intense, and I am a little tired—"

"You'll be fine," Chaud snapped.

"You can stay here," Maylu said. "I understand."

Alphaman sighed with relief and appeared back in the PET.

Chaud snorted.

--

"Here we are," Medi said happily, as they stood outside the eerie entrance to the Undernet. "Thank you all so much for coming with me."

"You're not going to drop us off here, are you?" Mega Man asked.

"Why not?" Medi inquired. "I can go alone."

"But you said you needed us to go with you _into_ the Undernet," Roll pointed out.

Medi shrugged. "I just meant that I didn't know the easiest way get here. But I guess you guys can come along."

"I guess we can come along, too," Protoman said, "and we were going to whether you like it or not."

"Well, sorry!" Medi said. "I wasn't aware that you were the leader here!"

"He kind of is," Roll said. "Whether he denies it or not, he's still the best."

"What area did you hear Nebula was meeting in?" Mega Man asked Medi.

"Area Four," she answered. "I heard all the Darkloids would be there."

"Where did you hear this?" Roll asked, but no one answered.

"We'll be fine as long as they don't use Darkchips," Protoman muttered.

"Then let's get going," Mega Man said.

--

"We're almost there," Protoman said. The Navis had followed Protoman all the way to Undernet Area Three.

"Will you slow down?" Medi pleaded. "I'm about to die!"

"Slowpoke," Roll said jokingly. She had gotten used to Protoman's speed, since she'd run with him before.

"Yeah, Protoman," Mega Man said. "You are going a little fast."

"Fine," Protoman said. "But we're on a mission, and missions need to be completed as soon as possible."

"Well, sorry!" Medi said again.

"You should have known that one," Roll said lightheartedly. "That's just common sense. Or do you not have any of that?" She laughed. "Wow, Mega Man, I'm thinking there was a lot of sugar in those Cyber-cookies we ate. I'm getting a little loopy."

"Excuse me!" Medi exclaimed. "I'm sure I have much more of that than you do!"

"What?" Roll said, surprised that Medi couldn't take a joke. "I have common sense! Well, a little…"

"Calm down, Roll!" Mega Man said. "She's just tired. Protoman is a really fast Navi."

"Whatever," Roll snapped, to her own astonishment. "I say she's out of shape."

When the Navis finally reached Undernet Area Four, the tension between Roll and Medi had quickly reached a surprising maximum. Mega Man had to step between them to stop them from strangling each other.

"Here we are," Protoman said. "Now, they're probably hiding somewhere, so everyone keep an eye out."

"I'll bet Pinky over there couldn't spot them if they were right in front of her tiny little face," Medi jeered.

"Yeah, I'm almost as useless as you!" Roll shot back.

"Shut up!" Protoman ordered.

The four Navis searched the area until finally Mega Man announced that he found a path that led deeper into the area. With both Mega Man and Protoman between Roll and Medi, the Navis followed the path.

The tiny path led into a wide-open area, and Protoman held his sword out to stop the other Navis from going any further. Up ahead, a giant group of Darkloids was standing in the middle of the area, listening to someone talk.

"I know that voice," Mega Man whispered. "It's hard to forget. Shademan."

"Isn't he the big vampire guy?" Medi asked.

"Yes," Protoman said. "Everyone, contact your Net Ops. We're going to need Battle Chips."

Soon the Net Ops had all focused their attention back to their PETs.

"Okay, Protoman," Chaud said. "Move all the Navis into a circle around the Darkloids and ambush them. Delete as many as you can. Target Shademan."

"Yes, Chaud Blaze, sir," Protoman said.

The Net Ops downloaded an Invisible chip for each of their Navis.

"Hurry!" Lan said. "Invisible has a time limit!"

The Navis hastily surrounded the Darkloids. Roll listened to Shademan's voice speaking of something called Nebula Gray. It was to be launched soon. She wondered what it was. She tried to get Protoman's attention, thinking that maybe they should listen in, but then she realized she was invisible. _Oh, well. Protoman knows what he's doing._

As soon as the Invisible chip ran out, Protoman signaled his sword and the Navis ran in for the attack.

"Aqua Tower, Battle Chip in!" Maylu cried.

"Cybersword, Widesword, Longsword, Battle Chips in!" Chaud said.

"Mega-Cannon for you, Mega Man!" Lan said. "Battle Chips in!"

"Vulcan!" Jasmine said. "Battle Chip in!"

Every one of the Darkloids turned around, a scowl on their faces. "Net Savers!" some of them said angrily. "The fools!"

"Attack!" Chaud ordered.

All at once, the four Navis fired their weapons at the Darkloids. They managed to knock four of them out of the fight, leaving still too many.

"Imbeciles!" Shademan hissed from his place in the middle of the circle. "Darkloids, get rid of them!"

"Run!" Medi said. "We found the Darkloids, I was right, now let's get out of here!"

"No!" Roll shouted. "You brought Net Savers with you, and now you have to do as a Net Saver would! Fight! Why else would you bring us here?"

Medi glared at her, trying to hide her fear. How would they win against this many Darkloids?

Mega Man fired his Mega-Cannon a second time before switching back to his Megabuster. Protoman sent a Sonicboom flying at the nearest Darkloid, and then slashed at one that was coming up behind him.

Meanwhile, Medi and Roll were arguing, and getting very close to ripping each other's heads off.

"Why do you want to run?" Roll taunted. "Scared to fight?"

"No!" Medi screeched. "Why would I be scared? Those Darkloids are a bunch of wimps!"

"Then go fight them!" Roll ordered.

"Fine!" Medi yelled. "I will! But only after you shut up!"

"You can't order a Net Saver around!"

"Yes, I can!"

"No you can't!"

"I just did!"

"Maybe, but I'm not going to—ah!"

Medi had thrown three of her capsules at Roll, and they had exploded around her, leaving her on the ground, stunned.

"That's what you get for talking back to me, Shorty!" Medi said triumphantly. "Now watch while I delete these Darkloids _and_ steal your man!"

Roll tried to get up, but she couldn't move. _Mega! _she cried silently.

Mega Man and Protoman were too busy fighting to ever look back at the feuding girls. Medi ran to Mega Man's side and threw a capsule at a Darkloid that was running towards him.

"Hi, Medi," Mega Man said. "Thanks. Where's Roll?"

"I don't know," Medi lied. "I think she's somewhere over there." And she pointed in the opposite direction of Roll's true location.

"Oh," Mega Man said. "I hope she's okay."

"Me, too," Medi said.

"Roll's down," Protoman said a few seconds later, leaping over to Mega Man and Medi. "It seems she's been hit with a Thunder, or something of the sort."

"Where's Flashman?" Mega Man asked immediately. "Is Roll okay?"

"I haven't seen Flashman," Protoman said. "I spotted Roll farther over there, away from the battle. I thought I'd best tell you first, Mega Man. I'll go get her."

"No, I'll get her," Medi volunteered. "I'm a nurse Navi. I'll help her." Medi had no intention of really hurting Roll. In fact, she was surprised that her paralysis attack hadn't yet worn off.

"Okay," Mega Man said uncertainly as he dodged a blast from a Darkloid's cannon. "Just hurry. Whoa!" He aimed his Megabuster as another shot barely missed his face and fired at the Darkloid.

Medi left Mega Man and Protoman to fight while she went back to Roll. When she arrived at her side, she put her hands in front of her.

"Healing Pulse," she said.

_What? _Roll wondered.

--

After the Net Ops had each downloaded their Battle Chips for their Navis, they sat on Lan's couch and watched their Navis fight, ready to help if they needed to.

"Mega Man and Protoman are pretty good," Jasmine commented. "It's too bad that Alpha Navi backed out."

"What do you think about Roll?" Maylu asked.

"I don't know," Jasmine said. "Where is she?"

"She's fighting the Darkloids," Maylu said. "No, wait...She's arguing with Medi."

"She is?" Jasmine asked. "It's very unlike Medi to get into an argument."

"It's not like Roll, either," Maylu said worriedly. "Roll! What are you doing? Go fight the Darkloids, not the ally!"

When Maylu's screen had popped up in the Undernet, Maylu had enough time to see Medi throw a capsule at Roll before her communication was jammed.

"She just attacked Roll!" Maylu cried.

"Oh, dear," Alphaman commented quietly.

"What?" Lan asked, turning his attention from his conversation with Chaud to the two girls.

"Medi wouldn't do that," Jasmine argued.

"Wouldn't do what?" Chaud inquired.

"She just attacked my Navi!" Maylu told him.

"Medi just threw a bomb-thing at Roll!" Alphaman cried.

"It would have been a Medi Capsule," Jasmine corrected, "And no, she didn't."

"Protoman!" Chaud said. "Go find Roll."

"Yes sir." Maylu saw on Chaud's screen Protoman leaving Mega Man's side to search for Roll.

Soon Protoman popped into Lan's screen and said to Mega Man and Medi, who was now fighting alongside him, "Roll's down. It seems she's been hit with a Thunder, or something of the sort."

"Where's Flashman?" Mega Man asked quickly. "Is Roll okay?"

"I haven't seen Flashman," Protoman answered. "I spotted Roll farther over there, away from the battle. I thought I'd best tell you first, Mega Man. I'll go get her."

"No, I'll get her," Medi volunteered. "I'm a nurse Navi. I'll help her."

"See?" Jasmine said. "Medi wouldn't hurt Roll. She's going to help her."

"Then explain why she cut off my communication!" Maylu shouted, staring at her messed-up PET screen with Alphaman standing timidly off to the side.

"She'll explain herself," Jasmine answered as she watched her Navi heal Roll. "See? She just healed her."

"I _can't_ see!" Maylu argued. "My communication's down!"

"You've said that enough," Lan told her.

--

"What's with you?" Roll cried as she jumped up, ready to fight.

"I didn't really mean to hurt you," Medi said.

"Then why did you throw a bomb at me?" Roll asked.

Medi sighed. "I thought there was a Darkloid behind you, but it was just my imagination." It wasn't the truth. Medi really just wanted Roll to shut up.

"Yeah, right," Roll said. "You did it on purpose." Then she yelled, "Maylu!"

"Communication's down," Medi said when there was no answer. "We're in the Undernet, you know. I guess it's just you and me. No Net Ops."

"I think you're a Darkloid," Roll said suddenly.

Medi first showed an expression of surprise, but it quickly changed to anger. "You just hate me, don't you?" she asked. "How about you fight me, and I'll show you that I don't fight like a Darkloid! Because I'm _not_ a Darkloid!"

"I can't fight you!" Roll shouted. "We're supposed to be on a mission!"

"And the boys are doing fine," Medi said. "If it's a Net Saver mission, then you should be deleting the Darkloids, right? Come on, scared to fight?"

"Why would I be scared?" Roll fumed. "You're just a wimp!"

"Then come fight me!"

--

Not far away, Mega Man and Protoman were left picking off the real Darkloids, one by one.

"Where are the girls?" Mega Man asked between shots of his Megabuster. "We haven't seen them in a while."

"I don't know," Protoman answered. "Darkloid behind you."

Mega Man spun around and shot straight through the middle of a green Darkloid, causing him to log out.

"I hope they're okay," Mega Man said.

_Yeah, _Protoman thought, though he didn't voice his concern. _Where are they? I really hope Roll's okay. Well, Medi, too._

"I just thought of something else, too," Mega Man brought up. "Where's Shademan? Don't you think he would have attacked us by now?"

"Maybe he's waiting until we let our guard down," Protoman guessed.

"He could have just gotten scared and left as soon as we showed up," Mega Man laughed.

Protoman shrugged. "You're probably right."

--

Shademan appeared back in his castle. He indeed had been afraid and had fled to the safety of his throne. He sat in his special seat and waited for a consultation with the "Mysterious Man."

He didn't have to wait long. Soon the panels below his throne began to give off and eerie glow, and the shadow of Laserman appeared. "Shademan, why are you hiding back here?" Laserman hissed angrily.

"Awaiting your orders," Shademan said plainly.

"This time they're simple," Laserman said. "Disable the communication between the Operators and their Netnavis. What's a Net Saver without a Netnavi?"

"I'll send Flashman to do the job," Shademan said in a bored tone.

"You'd best not fail," Laserman said menacingly before his outline disappeared.

Shademan muttered something rude before summoning Flashman from the battle to his throne.

--

"Mega Man, have a Spreader," Lan said, putting another Battle Chip into the PET. "That'll be easier than your Mega-Cannon."

"Protoman, NeoVariable Sword," Chaud said.

"Medi, take Fire Tower." Jasmine downloaded the Battle Chip. She leaned closer to the speaker and said, "Medi, leave Roll alone."

"This battle is really long and really boring," Lan commented. "Where's the action?"

"I'm fine without any action," Chaud muttered. "I think I'll take easy for once."

Maylu wasn't paying attention. She was talking to Alphaman.

"You saw it, didn't you?" she asked. "You saw Medi attack Roll?"

"It was as if she saw your screen," Alphaman said, "and blew up the communication so you couldn't operate Roll."

"You're right," Maylu said. "She attacked at the very same moment I contacted Roll. Coincidence, or did we just find out that Medi's a bad guy?"

"I don't know, m'lady," Alphaman said.

Just then the other Net Ops let out cries of shock. Maylu turned around to see Lan, Chaud, and Jasmine all staring at their PET screens. All three of the screens were fuzzy, like a broken TV. Lan and Chaud looked at each other in shock, but Jasmine moved her angry gaze to Maylu.

"It was her!" she said. "She thinks I cut off her communication, so she turned around and disabled ours!"

Chaud saw the look of surprise and anger on Maylu's face and quickly defended her. "She has no way of doing that."

"Yes, she does!" Jasmine argued.

"How?" Chaud challenged.

Jasmine glared. "I don't know!"

"It doesn't matter who cut it off," Lan said, not taking sides. "All that matters is now we can't talk to our Navis. They'll have to win the battle and come back on their own."

--

Flashman appeared in the back of Undernet Area Four, away from the fight. He laughed to himself. The Net Savers were all alone. Flashman was a bit surprised that they had beaten all the other Darkloids, especially that quickly.

To his surprise, he spotted a Navi he didn't recognize. "Ah!" he said aloud. "A new Net Saver. No wait, she's fighting with that pink puppet. Friend or foe, I wonder?"

--

"Then come fight me!"

As soon as Medi had finished her sentence, she threw a capsule at Roll. Roll was quick enough this time to jump into the air and land behind Medi.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!" Roll shouted. "You _are_ a Darkloid!"

"No, I'm not," Medi said, preparing another capsule. "I truthfully want to be a Net Saver, but you're getting in the way."

"How am I in the way?" Roll asked, leaping to the side as she dodged another capsule.

"I can't ever be a Net Saver if the girlfriend of one of the greatest hates me!" Medi answered. "If I get rid of her, then maybe I'll have a chance! Hey, maybe I'll even be his partner!"

Roll swallowed, but she didn't want to admit that she wasn't Mega Man's girlfriend. "You'll never be a Net Saver," she said instead.

"Whatever." To Roll's surprise, the next attack Medi threw was a Fire Tower. It came to fast for Roll to dodge, so Medi made a direct hit and left Roll with some bad burns.

"Rollblast!" Roll shouted, throwing her attack at Medi. Medi jumped straight into the air, avoiding any damage.

"No, stop!"

Mega Man and Protoman were running at full speed towards Roll and Medi. "What are you doing?" Mega Man shouted.

"Medi's a Darkloid!" Roll cried.

"I'm not a Darkloid!" Medi said as Mega Man and Protoman reached them.

"All the other Darkloids are gone," Protoman said. "While you two were fighting each other, Burnerman ordered a retreat."

"Good," Roll said. "Now all three of us can make _Medi_ retreat."

"I'm not a Darkloid," Medi repeated.

"I've never seen a Darkloid that denies it," Mega Man pointed out. "Roll, I think you're just paranoid."

"Paranoid?" Medi laughed. "She's got to be insane!"

"She cut off my communication with Maylu!" Roll argued.

"I really don't think she did, Roll," Mega Man said.

"I do!" Roll shouted. "She's the insane one!"

"Stop arguing," Protoman ordered. "Okay, Roll. What proof do you have that Medi cut off your communication?"

"She smirked when Maylu didn't answer my call!"

"I just said that communication was down," Medi said. "I didn't smirk."

"Then how come ours isn't down?" Protoman asked.

"I don't know," Medi lied. "But I didn't cut off her communication!"

"Chaud!" Protoman called.

Nothing happened.

"Lan!" Mega Man yelled.

No reply came.

"See?" Medi said, trying to hide her own surprise. She hadn't known everything was cut off, either. "It's all down."

"It's just us, now," Mega Man said. "Roll, Medi _did not_ cut off your communication."

"Yes, she did!"

"What proof do you have?" Medi shouted, repeating Protoman's words.

No one said anything.

"What now?" Protoman grumbled in frustration. "We've got two members of the team that don't trust each other, we have no Net Ops to help us, and we're stuck in the middle of the Undernet."

"Can we not jack out?" Roll asked.

"I say we just make our way back to Lan's HP and hang out there," Mega Man said.

"All that way?" Medi complained.

"You shouldn't have cut off the communication if you didn't want to walk back," Roll said.

"I didn't cut it off!" Medi yelled.

"How about you both cut it _out_," Protoman demanded.

Roll and Medi glared at each other.

Protoman started walking. He knew that they could jack out if they wanted to. But he wanted to spend as much time near Roll as possible, to try to straighten out his thoughts. And he was curious to see how the Roll-Medi argument unfolded.

--

It didn't take long for the Navis to get to Undernet Area Three. Mega Man and Protoman once again had stepped between Roll and Medi to keep them from deleting each other.

"Are we there yet?" Medi complained.

Roll would have shot a rude remark, but Mega Man quickly turned and gave her a warning look.

"We only have three areas to go in the Undernet," Protoman said. "Then we have to go through the rest of the Net to get to Lan's HP."

Medi moaned. Protoman turned his head so no one saw his amused smile.

Roll lagged behind the other three, and her mind drifted away. Why was Medi suddenly interfering with her and Mega Man? Why did Roll hate her? Why did she hate Roll? Why did she have to come? _Meddler Medi,_ Roll muttered silently.

And how did Medi find out that Darkloids were meeting in the Undernet? _She has to be a Darkloid. It's not like Shademan hangs up posters telling where the Darkloids are!_

"Roll, look out!"

Roll turned around at the sound of Protoman's voice to see a tall Navi standing behind her. He was looking down at her, his arms folded across his chest. "Hello, pink puppet," he said. "We meet again."

"Flashman!" Mega Man said angrily. "What do you want?"

"So that's Flashman," Medi said.

Protoman released his breath. Perhaps it would have been better if they'd just jacked out when they had the chance.

"I was sent by Shademan," Flashman said. "He told me to disconnect your Net Ops, but that wasn't enough for me. I decided to come after you, too."

Roll's stomach flipped. She had blamed Medi for something that was Flashman's doing.

Roll kicked her leg at Flashman's chest in attempt to knock him over. He only stumbled backwards and laughed as Roll ran to stand beside Mega Man.

"Aw, you think he'll protect you!" Flashman jeered. "But think again! I'm going to delete you once and for all!"

"You said that last time," Protoman pointed out, his hand converting to a sword.

"You there!" Flashman said, pointing to Medi. "Whose side are you on?"

"Me?" Medi asked in confusion. "Obviously I'm on their side."

Flashman chuckled. "But you were fighting her." He pointed at Roll. "And winning, I might add."

"She was not winning!" Roll shouted.

"She thinks I'm a Darkloid," Medi answered. "Proof, Roll! Flashman doesn't know who I am, so I can't be a Darkloid!"

"It could all be an act," Roll said, "but I don't care. Come on, Mega, let's get Flashman!"

"Right with you, Roll!" Mega Man answered, readying his buster.

"Neon Light!" Flashman said. He held out his hand, and a bright light began to shine there.

"Medi Capsule!" Medi yelled, and she quickly threw it at Flashman. Flashman released his attack at that time, stopping the capsule in mid-air. The explosion sent all five Navis flying in opposite directions.

Protoman was the first to recover. He brought his sword down in a quick motion and shouted, "Sonicboom!"

Flashman scooted to the left, dodging Protoman's attack by inches. "Neon Light!" he said again.

"Rollblast!" Roll cried. She aimed her attack at Flashman's head, but he ducked just in time and sent his ball of electricity hurtling at Mega Man, who was standing in front of Medi.

"Megabuster!" Mega Man said, and shot straight through the Neon Light. The result was another explosion, but not one large enough to hurt the Navis. However, it did create a smokescreen. Roll looked around helplessly, not able to see clearly through the thick fog.

Suddenly Roll was knocked forward onto her knees. "Ow!" she shouted before she twisted around to see Protoman standing over her.

"Sorry," he said. "I was running and I didn't see you."

"It's okay," Roll said as Protoman offered her his hand.

"Maybe you should let Mega Man and me handle Flashman," Protoman offered as Roll stood up. His heart fell when Roll let go of his hand. Why couldn't she hold on forever?

"No way!" Roll replied. "I can help."

"Okay," Protoman shrugged. He should have known Roll wouldn't back down. But he felt so helpless. Protoman wasn't a nurse Navi, so if she got hurt he would have no way of helping her. And his trust for Medi was dwindling. "Whatever you say. Just be careful."

Roll smiled. "I'll be fine," she said. "Thanks."

Protoman returned the grin. Roll had such a beautiful face.

"Oh, how cute," came Flashman's voice. "Two puppets flirting with each other."

"We're not flirting!" Protoman yelled without thinking.

"And we're not puppets!" Roll added.

"Yes you are," answered Flashman. "Explain why you let humans manipulate you like they do."

"They don't manipulate us," Roll answered in a low voice. She turned to Protoman. "Activate your shield," she said. "You'll need it."

Protoman did as he was told.

Roll didn't know where Mega Man was, but she hoped he was far enough away that her next move didn't affect him.

"Rollblast!" she cried, throwing her attack the same way she had with Protoman. She heard the _clink_ of Protoman's shield, but didn't hear any sound from anywhere else.

"Did I get him?" Roll asked. "I don't hear him."

"I don't know," Protoman answered. "Where's Mega Man and Medi?"

"I'm not sure," Roll replied.

"Uh!"

Protoman's shield vanished, and he fell forward.

"Protoman!" Roll cried just as she saw Flashman standing behind him. "Are you okay?"

Protoman didn't answer.

"Ooh, down in one hit," Flashman said. "Too bad."

Roll glared at Flashman. She knew Protoman would be okay. "Where's Mega?" she asked.

Flashman shrugged. "I don't know. I think he was over somewhere flirting with that one girl Navi."

"Rollblast!" Roll shouted. Her attack missed him by centimeters when he leaped into the air and flew over her.

"Neon Light!" Flashman countered. Roll jumped over the ball of electricity, taking time while she was in the air to look around.

The smokescreen was beginning to clear, and she spotted Mega Man a little ways away, back to back with Medi. He had his Megabuster ready, and she was standing in a fighting pose. Mega Man said something over his shoulder, and Medi giggled.

Roll's stomach suddenly twisted in a strange manner.

She went down with the next attack Flashman threw at her, Sparkarm. She cried out, nearly paralyzed by the powerful attack.

"Pokey, pokey," Flashman jeered. "You were a lot faster the last time I fought you. Oh, let me guess! The last time I fought you, your boyfriend wasn't cheating on you."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Roll cried, struggling to get off her knees. "I don't care that he's talking to Medi!"

"It sure seems you do," Flashman pointed out. "Crybaby."

Roll fell back down to the ground and covered her face with her hands. Flashman was right. _Mega, why are you doing this to me? Why? What's she got that I don't?_

Flashman heard the sobs from the tiny pink Navi. "Awww," he said, putting his hands on his hips. "Is wittle pink puppet sad?"

The tears were escaping from her eyes and falling down her face. "Shut up," she said quietly.

"Aw!" Flashman repeated. "She _is!_"

"Leave me alone!" Roll yelled. She raised one hand and sent an Aqua Tower careening towards Flashman. She had forgotten that she still had it.

Flashman was caught by surprise and had no time to dodge it. He was sucked into the tower and thrown farther away.

"Ow…Roll?" Protoman was starting to get back up. He looked up at Roll. "What happened?"

"Flashman attacked you," Roll said. "He was hiding behind your shield."

"Why didn't I catch him there?" Protoman asked aloud. "He would have been so obvious! I guess my mind was too clouded by—" He stopped.

Roll was suddenly full of curiosity. "Clouded by what?"

Protoman covered himself by saying, "Just wondering where Medi and Mega Man were."

"Oh," Roll said, shrugging. "Okay. I saw them over there." She raised a hand and pointed in that direction. She wasn't surprised to see herself shaking.

"Are you okay, Roll?" Protoman asked. Apparently he had seen it, too.

"Just fine," Roll said, dropping her hand to her side. "Tired. Flashman's somewhere around here…"

"There!" Protoman said. He brought down his sword in the air, creating a Sonicboom attack. It hurtled past Roll and into Flashman, who had evidently been behind her.

"Yeowch!" Flashman yelled, caught by surprise by the quick attack.

"Roll Arrow!" Roll said as a bow materialized on her arm. "Say goodbye, Flashman!"

Flashman didn't say goodbye, but logged out as the arrow pierced his middle.

"Well," Protoman said, "now that that's taken care of, let's go find Mega Man and Medi."

They found them still standing back to back, chatting and giggling, neither one in their battle stance. When Roll and Protoman came up to them, they stopped talking.

"Lost him," Mega Man said. "Sorry."

"We just defeated him," Protoman said. "Did you not hear us shouting at him?"

"Nope," Medi said. "Apologies. Mega's jokes are too funny."

_Mega? _Roll found herself unable to move. _She stole my nickname for him!_

"Jack out," Protoman ordered dryly. But when he tried to follow his own order, nothing happened.

"I thought we couldn't," Medi said.

Protoman was puzzled. Nebula must have done something different this time. "Oh," he said, hiding his confusion. "I forgot." He frowned and switched back to the previous topic. "You should pay better attention. Even if you're not a Net Saver, it's still common sense to know that you have to be attentive when fighting an enemy. Or do you not have any of that?"

Mega Man and Medi were caught off guard by Protoman's comment. Roll looked at him. He'd used her comment from earlier, only this time he meant it.

"Well, sorry," Medi said, but her apology was only half-hearted.

--

"Okay," Lan said. "We know that there's got to be some way to restore the connection. Chaud, any ideas?"

Chaud shook his head. "They should be able to jack out," Chaud said, "but I guess not."

"I believe I know a way."

Maylu picked up her PET and looked at Alphaman. "You do?" she asked. "Fire away!"

Alphaman cleared his throat. "Okay, it's my big moment! Now I get to rescue everyone!"

"Just tell us how," Lan sighed.

--

"We're stranded." Medi threw her head back.

Roll, Protoman, Mega Man, and Medi were now standing in a circle, trying to figure out what they should do about their situation.

"I really don't feel like walking all the way back," Mega Man said. "I say we camp out here until Lan and everyone fixes the connection and then we can jack out."

"I'm pooped," Medi said.

Roll almost said, "You're a poop," but she managed to restrain herself.

The four Navis plopped down onto the ground. Roll sighed. Medi turned to Mega Man and started chatting about Net City. "I heard they were going to rebuild it," she said. "After, you know, the Darkloids blew it up."

Roll stood back up and walked to the other side of Protoman, away from Medi and Mega Man.

"What's the deal?" Protoman asked. "Why aren't you sitting next to Mega Man?"

"Because of Medi," Roll muttered. "She likes Mega, and I have a feeling he likes her back."

"Why would he like her?" Protoman questioned. "She's annoying. Sure she's nice, sort of, but I'm just gonna have to say that I'm really surprised you'd think that he'd pick her over you. You're cute, smart, nice, and even a good Net Saver. And your size, that makes you even cuter. He has no reason to choose anyone else."

"That all sounded a little prepared," Roll pointed out, a sly smile on her face, "almost as if you were planning to tell me later."

Protoman felt his face turn slightly scarlet. "Uh, no," he said. "I'm…I guess I'm just a good talker."

Roll laughed. "Don't worry," Roll said. "I believe you."

Protoman sighed. _She doesn't have any clue_, he thought. _She thinks I've never even considered having her as a girlfriend._

Roll sighed. _He doesn't have any clue, _Roll thought. _Mega thinks I've never even considered having him as a boyfriend._

Suddenly there was a flash of light, and in front of the Navis appeared Alphaman. "Greetings," he said, smiling.

"Hi!" Roll said happily. "How'd you get here so fast? Is the communication back up?"

"Yup," Alphaman said. "I just wanted to come see you myself."

Immediately two screens appeared behind Roll and Protoman, and the faces of Maylu and Chaud appeared in them.

"Better jack out now," Chaud said, "before any viruses find you. Or more Darkloids."

Lan and Jasmine had appeared in the screens behind Mega Man and Medi. "Come on!" Lan said. "I'll order more Cyber-cookies!"

--

After all the Navis had safely gotten back into their PETs, the Navis jacked into Lan's HP. Lan called Higsby's Chip Shop and ordered a box of twenty-five chocolate chip Cyber-cookies, and the Navis each munched happily.

At least, most of them were happy.

_Roll, _Protoman thought, _why do you chase after Mega Man so much? Have you ever considered anyone else? Why not me? I need to find out what's so cool about Mega Man._

_Mega, _Roll thought, _why is Medi so neat to you? What is it that she's got that I don't? Why do you talk to her, but for the past few hours have been completely ignoring me? What happened to our friendship?_

Alphaman scooted over to Roll and Protoman. "What is up, m'lady?" he asked.

Protoman frowned. "Don't _ever_ say that again," he said in a bored voice.

"Yes, sir!" Alphaman said loudly, saluting.

Protoman snorted.

"These are really good," Roll said, taking another cookie out of the package. "I'll have to give Lan my compliments."

"No, I don't think you want to," Alphaman said. "He tried to order cookies from Grandpaman's Sweets Shop. It was I who persuaded him to buy from Higsby's."

"Oh," Roll said. "Then, thanks, Alphaman!"

"_Grandpaman's_?" Protoman echoed. "What kind of a name is that?"

"I didn't choose it," Alphaman said.

Roll smiled. It was hard to be sad around Alphaman.

It used to be that way with Mega Man. Mega Man used to always make her happy, no matter what mood she was in. Now, she couldn't help but wish Mega Man was back in his PET, and that Roll was at home. For some reason, she wanted Mega Man gone. And she knew it was Medi's fault. Medi was ripping them apart. _Meddler Medi_.

"What's wrong, Roll?" Protoman asked. "Why are you crying?"

Roll wiped her hand across her eyes. "Tired," she said. "I should get back to the PET."

"I don't think that's it," Alphaman said. "I think it's something different."

"No!" Roll snapped. "Really, I just need to be left alone!"

"Okay!" Alphaman said, surprised at her sourness. "Okay, okay."

Protoman didn't say anything. He knew exactly why she was crying. Mega Man. He was ignoring her. Suddenly he felt a wave of anger at the blue Navi. They used to be nearly best friends, but now he didn't think he wanted to be around him anymore, either.

Roll stood up and logged out, tears starting to stream down her face.

"I hope she's okay," Alphaman said.

Protoman said nothing. Mega Man was ignoring her. He was talking to Medi instead.

"Then Lan Crossfused," Mega Man was saying. "He slashed at Burnerman and said, 'Ha, you call that aim?' He was pretty easy to beat."

"Wow!" Medi giggled. "You and Lan are so cool!"

Protoman frowned. He hadn't been there, but Roll had told him about their battle with Burnerman. According to _her_ story, it was Maylu who had taken out Burnerman, not Lan.

"Do you want to hear about the time I beat Vineman?" Mega Man asked Medi.

"Sure!" Medi said. "Your stories are so neat."

Protoman's scowl deepened. He had been there to know that it was Maylu who defeated Vineman. Mega Man was telling stories that he had bent just to impress Medi. _Wonder what Roll would say if she knew about this, _Protoman thought. _I'll bet Lan is a jerk enough to be bragging to Jasmine, too, about how easily he had beaten my dark self. _He laughed bitterly. Maylu had risked her life to save Protoman just for Chaud. Maylu had ended up in the hospital, and Chaud had told Protoman that he still didn't think he had thanked her enough. He couldn't bear to see Mega Man taking credit for what Roll and Maylu did.

Protoman stood up.

"Are you leaving, too?" Alphaman asked. "The time is currently nine hours, seven minues, and fifty-four seconds, so maybe we should be getting to bed."

"I've gotta talk to Mega Man," Protoman replied.

"Oh, okay," Alphaman said. "I'll jack out and go to sleep, now. I'm a bit tired."

As Alphaman jacked out behind him, Protoman made his way over to Mega Man and Medi.

"I should be going," he heard Medi say. "It's getting nearer and nearer to my Net Op's bedtime. She'll be cranky if she doesn't get to sleep on time."

"Okay," Mega Man said. "I'll see you soon, then, I hope."

The two Navis stood up, and Medi stepped forward and gave Mega Man a hug. Mega Man's face turned red, and he smiled. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back.

"It was so cool to meet you, Mega," Medi said. "I'm pretty sure I'll see you soon."

Medi stepped back and waved as she logged out.

When Mega Man turned around, his face was still red. "Wow," he said, smiling at Protoman. "She's really cool."

"I'll bet," Protoman muttered. "I'll be seeing you later."

Protoman jacked out, leaving Mega Man red-faced and confused.

The End

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